Yesterday, the Health Secretary proposed merging back-office agencies and quangos that cost the NHS about $3 billion annually.
Steve Barclay stated that he wants to minimize targets and centralized “diktat” in order to save money and improve the efficiency of services.
His remarks come after he selected former Labour health minister Patricia Hewitt to assess the efficiency of the NHS in the hopes that billions of dollars of public funds will be allocated directly to patient treatment.
Yesterday, the BBC asked Mr. Barclay what the NHS should do less of, and he responded, ‘Firstly, we have £2.8 billion in expense in the department on its arm’s-length organisations.
‘That’s over 50,000 personnel who aren’t directly interacting with patients; therefore, there are potential for consolidation. But also reducing targets and delegating greater authority to trusts and integrated care boards.’
When questioned if this could result in hospitals deciding not to give certain services, he responded, ‘It’s about providing them greater discretion.’ When I speak with trust leaders, the sheer amount of time they spend managing upwards is one of their greatest frustrations.
As an illustration, he stated that general practitioners might now order scans in suspected cancer situations without needing patients to first see a specialist.
It’s about designing a healthcare system at the local level that empowers local leaders more, makes greater use of the population-level data that we’ll have through the federated data platform, and has less centralized, one-size-fits-all directives.
This is one of the things that NHS employees tell me is producing a lot of noise, causing a lot of disruption, and hindering their ability to provide patient care.
I believe that the annual expenditure of £2.8 billion on the department and these independent bodies is a colossal amount.
Will Quince, one of Mr. Barclay’s junior ministers, stated yesterday on Times Radio that despite the pressure on the NHS, it was the proper moment to seek efficiency.
On quangos, we still have a substantial management layer. ‘Therefore, I think it’s appropriate that all of these things are examined holistically,’ he said.
‘Of course, every pound you save can be reinvested in the NHS and used to solve some of these challenges and our top priority.’