Keir Starmer has announced he is abolishing NHS England and in order to bring the NHS back under direct political control.
During a speech announcing public sector reform plans, the prime minister said he would be scrapping the “arms-length body NHS England,” the BBC reports.
“I’m bringing management of the NHS back into democratic control, by abolishing the arms-length body NHS England,” he says.
He added this will “put the NHS back at the heart of government where it belongs.”
The Labour leader argued that scrapping NHS England will avoid excessive duplication between NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care.
“I don’t see why decisions about £200bn pounds of taxpayer money on something as fundamental to our security as the NHS should be taken by an arm’s length body NHS England,” Sir Kier said.
“And 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 across the state, focus government on the priorities of working people, shift money to the front line.”
He made the announcement at a speech in which he promised to cut red tape and revealed major reforms to the way government works.
In a piece for the Telegraph on Wednesday, Starmer said the measures were designed to tackle an “overcautious flabbby state.”
Along with scrapping NHS England, the PM vowed to modernise the civil service and promised an increasingly prominent role for artificial intelligence.
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