British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Thursday that NHS England will be abolished to "cut bureaucracy" and bring the management of the health service "back into democratic control."
The prime minister said decisions about billions of pounds of taxpayer money should not be taken by an "arms-length" body, as he promised sweeping reforms – which the government says will deliver better care for patients.
Starmer said the previous Conservative government had been mistaken to make the National Health Service (NHS) England more independent from central government as he warned the state was "weaker than ever."
"Overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly," Starmer said.
Speaking on a visit to the eastern English city of Hull, Starmer said, "I can’t in all honesty explain to the British people why they should spend their money on two layers of bureaucracy."
"That money could and should be spent on nurses, doctors, operations, GP appointments."
"So today, I can announce we’re going to cut bureaucracy ... focus government on the priorities of working people, shift money to the front line," he said.
"So I’m bringing management of the NHS back into democratic control by abolishing the arms-length body, NHS England."
Answering a question from a cancer patient on how the decision would improve the services of the National Health Service, Starmer said: "Amongst the reasons we are abolishing it is because of the duplication."
"So, if you can believe it, we’ve got a communications team in NHS England, we’ve got a communications team in the health department of government; we’ve got a strategy team in NHS England, a strategy team in the government department. We are duplicating things that could be done once."
"If we strip that out, which is what we are doing today, that then allows us to free up that money to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line."
He added that the government wanted to push power to frontline workers "and away from the bureaucracy which often holds them up."
