Jobs cuts in NHS bureaucracy crackdown
Over 5,000 jobs and 20 quangos will be abolished under Government plans to cut bureaucracy within the NHS.
Health Secretary John Reid has announced proposals to abolish or amalgamate half of the 42 NHS quangos and reduce their 22,000 staff by a quarter by 2007/8.
The cuts are expected to result in savings of £0.5 billion. This could be used to build four new hospitals, recruit 20,000 more nurses, 6,250 consultants, or 7,500 general practitioners, Dr Reid told the BBC.
Today’s proposals are the result of an internal review, which identified too many overlapping and duplicated functions and unnecessary regulatory and policy activities. The report said that back office functions like IT and human resources could be rationalised and many of the bodies could be merged to reduce overheads.
It is not yet clear which bodies will be affected by the reforms.
Dr Reid said: “I want to see more staff and resources at the frontline delivering better patient care across the country. I want to see improved efficiency, reduced bureaucracy and better value for money.”
He also indicated that there would be further cost savings: “Now the first stage of the review has made clear that there is considerable scope for further savings among the national functions sponsored by the Department of Health.
Changes to the arms length sector were necessary because it ” does not meet current health and social care needs or those of future generations,” he said.
There are currently 42 quangos (quasi autonomous non governmental organisations) within the NHS. They are responsible for regulating many aspects of the health service and safeguarding patient welfare and include bodies such as the Health Protection Agency and the National Blood Authority.
They employ 22,000 staff and have a combined budget of £2.5million.
