Two senior members of Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet are reportedly locked in a row over the abolition of NHS England ahead of the Autumn Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has “resisted” demands from Health Secretary Wes Streeting to fund redunancy payments for NHS England staff with over £1 billion from the Treasury reserves, reports suggest. The Prime Minister announced in the spring that NHS England, the national body responsible for the day-to-day running of healthcare services, would be scrapped to “cut bureaucracy” and bring decision-making under Government control.
However, the abolition of the agency, which Mr Starmer said woud be enacted within two years, is expected to rack up huge redunancy costs, forcing Mr Streeting to request a £1.3 billion loan from the Treasury to cover a shortfall. The Chancellor has refused to shoulder the entirety of the costs, however, instead offering to provide half the money required for redunancy payments if Mr Streeting absorbs extra pharmaceutical costs under a deal with the US, according to The Times.
The Health Secretary reportedly warned that he will not be able to afford higher medicine costs from the US without negatively impacting NHS waiting lists.
The internal turmoil has seemingly left the Government’s major NHS reform policy in limbo, with Matthew Taylor, head of the NHS Confederation, warning that health boards have been “forced to put their redunancy programmes on hold for a number of months now due to a lack of clarity of how these job cuts will be funded”.
Mr Taylor also warned that a failure to act soon could backfire on Labour’s goal of ensuring that 92% of patients in England wait no longer than 18 weeks for treatment.
“[NHS bosses] will have to make drastic decisions over whether to reduce frontline staff numbers or funding and decrease activity levels, including operations, in order to cut costs,” he said.
“This would jeopardise the NHS’s chances of achieving the government’s ambition of hitting the 92% elective care target and risks leaving patients waiting longer for their care.”
It comes as Ms Reeves prepares to deliver the Autumn Budget next month amid pressure to cut costs and speculation of tax hikes on the wealthy.
A Government spokesperson said: “While we would never comment on internal Government decisions, we remain committed to abolishing NHS England within two years. This will save the taxpayer billions.”
