Healthy correspondent
Political correspondent
Media in PennsylvaniaThe government has announced that the NHS in England will be abolished to “reduce bureaucracy” and reform how the National Health Service is managed.
The changes will no longer have an impact on anyone’s access to the NHS – it will always be free at the point of use and will cover all the services it already does.
About 9,000 administrative roles are under reduction of the NHS in England and the Ministry of Health and Social Coins as part of changes – for about half of all roles in the two organizations.
As part of your voice of your BBC, we asked your questions on the plans and what they could mean for you – below, we answered them for you.
What is the NHS doing in England?
The NHS England is the administrative organization that manages the way in which health services at the top of the country are managed. It is mainly made up of managers and civil servants, not doctors and nurses who provide care in hospitals.
The government provides him with money and tells him what his priorities for the health service are – for example, which could reduce waiting times or improve cancer survival rates.
The role of NHS England is to channel the money it is given in different parts of the health service and to determine how to juggle resources in order to cause the change that the government wants to see.
In 2012, the NHS in England was granted more independence by the government led by the conservatives. They said that this would prevent politicians from interfering too much in the way in which the front line services are managed – but criticisms say that the change has made it more difficult to achieve or improve the reform.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer believes that the overhaul of management structures will put the NHS in England “in democratic control” and Free money for front -line services.
NHS England is also responsible for other functions such as training supervision and data collection, as well as the management of GP services.
There are distinct organizations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so these changes have only an impact on England.
Was this decision out of blue?
Within the NHS and Westminster, the writing has been on the NHS wall in England for a few months.
Even in recent years of the Conservative government, health ministers have expressed their frustration of not being in charge of the daily management of the health service.
When the Labor Party came to power, it was clear that Wes Streting Health Secretary wanted more NHS control and saw a lot of duplication and bureaucracy.
The CEO of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, recently said that she would resign at the end of March and that a number of her management team have followed suit.
In this regard, it was clear that there was going to be an important reform – but it is such an important change that you could possibly obtain at the heart of the NHS management structure.
What is a “quanto”-and why do ministers think that “bureaucracy” is a problem?
These are two words that we heard the government use a lot to explain why it abandoned the NHS in England and to put the health service under the closer government control.
In this context, bureaucracy is a stand-in word for a particularly complicated system or which requires excessive quantities of administration, paperwork, regulations or management layers.
Starmer clearly indicated that he thought that this type of administrator embarrassments.
We have also heard it describe the NHS in England as the “largest quanto in the world” – a term which represents a almost autonomous non -governmental organization.
In short, Quangs are organizations such as regulators and advisory groups, which are funded by taxpayers but not directly controlled by the central government. They do things on behalf of the government, but are not directly controlled by ministers.
They go from large organizations like NHS England, Network Rail and the Environment Agency to smaller such as the British Film Institute and Gambling Commission.
Their number has dropped more than half since 2010 because David Cameron’s coalition government abolished nearly 300 – but there are more than 300 across the United Kingdom.
The work has created more than 20 since the election victory last July, including Great British Energy and Skills England.
The total budget of Quangos in 2022/23 – when the latest figures were published – was 353 billion pounds Sterling.
Will there be more control over decision-making and budgets locally?
We do not yet know all the details on how health services in England will be managed in the future, but it is likely that some of the NHS responsibilities in England currently will be transferred to regional organizations.
One of the arguments presented regarding the NHS reform is that if you move decision -making at local level and closer to patients, it will be more to listen to the needs of patients in the region who make these calls.
They will know what local populations need and where the weaknesses are – and which, in theory, could improve services for patients in different parts of the country.
Will this mean an increase in NHS financing and better access to drugs?
Thursday’s announcement did not concern funding – it’s expected in summer.
We already know that NHS obtains an increase of approximately 3 to 4% next year and we do not yet know what spending will look like.
But government sources believe that the withdrawal of the NHS in England will save 500 million pounds sterling per year.
On access to drugs, this is the National Institute for the Excellence of Health and Care – which is distinct from the NHS England – which establishes the directives on treatments deemed affordable and profitable.
When a new drug is produced by the pharmaceutical industry, the institute will decide whether the NHS can afford it and if it is better than other drugs used.