Wes Streeting has admitted he did not anticipate scrapping NHS England when he became health secretary but said it is a “necessary step”.
Before Labour won last summer’s election, Mr Streeting said he had “absolutely no intention of wasting time with a big costly reorganisation” of the NHS.
However, hours after Sir Keir Starmer dropped the bombshell that NHS England, the administrative body that runs the national health service, will be abolished to slash red tape, the health secretary said his mind had been changed.
Politics latest: Mood in NHS England ‘very low today’
He told Trevor Phillips on Sky News’ Politics Hub: “I didn’t anticipate coming in wanting to make this change to NHS England. It wasn’t on my list of priorities.
“I recognise that in order to achieve the change I want, this is a necessary step.”
He said his instincts were to not scrap the quango “unless it was necessary”.
“I’ve concluded that it is necessary because you can’t have a situation where you’ve got two head offices duplicating work, a man marking each other, sometimes working against each other,” he added.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The government has not yet said how many jobs are expected to be lost
9,000 plus will lose jobs
Mr Streeting also confirmed thousands of people will lose their jobs, answering “yes” when asked if the move means more than 9,000 civil servants will be out the door – around half of the 19,000 people the health secretary said work for NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care.
He acknowledged it “will be an anxious time for them…there’s no way of sugarcoating” it.
“But we will be treating people with care and respect and the fairness that they are owned through this process,” he said.
He said the Conservatives inherited the “shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history” when they won the 2010 election, but said they “turned it on its head”.
He claimed the Labour government “is fixing it” but added: “We do have to put a foot down on the accelerator.”
The health secretary reiterated his previous comments that it would “be daft not to use spare capacity in the private sector” to alleviate pressure on the NHS.
Read more:
What is NHS England and what does abolishing it mean?
‘No return to austerity’ after NHS announcement
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Jeremy Hunt ‘cautiously optimistic’
However, he denied getting rid of NHS England is about part privatisation of the health service.
“With Labour, it would always be a public service free at the points of use,” he said.
“There are lots of people who are now paying to go private, and it’s those who can’t afford it who are getting left behind. I want to end that two-tier system.”
Sir Keir said axing NHS England will bring management of the NHS “back into democratic control” as it returns to the Department of Health and Social Care 12 years after the Conservatives created it.
The prime minister said the result would end the duplication from two organisations doing the same job, freeing up staff to focus on patients and putting more resources on the frontline.