The UK government is to cut more than 5,000 jobs from NHS agencies and "rationalise" back-office IT systems, health secretary John Reid announced on Thursday.
Reid said that the move is in line with the Gershon efficiency review, which is expected to recommend setting up shared IT services along with radical staff cuts. In addition to the latest cuts, the Department of Health (DoH) has already announced that it will lose 1,400 posts.
In a statement, the DoH said: "There are too many overlapping and duplicated functions; there are some unnecessary regulatory and policy activities; back-office functions such as human resources, finance, IT and estates could be rationalised; many bodies could be merged, thus reducing overheads and integrating similar functions; some bodies could be given independent status, with greater stakeholder control."
Overall, NHS quangos are to be reduced by 50 percent and the number of posts will be cut by 25 percent. Agencies covered include: the NHS Purchasing and Supplies Authority, the NHS Information Authority, NHS Direct and the NHS Modernisation Agency.
People working for the Modernisation Agency, the group responsible for promoting new ways of working in the NHS, are already preparing to be redeployed. Many might be transferred to strategic health authorities.
Reid says he can find £500m, a fifth of the annual bill for the agencies, if he drives through mergers and abolitions which he plans to detail by July 2004.
"I want to see more staff and resources at the frontline delivering better patient care across the country. I want to see improved efficiency, reduced bureaucracy and better value for money. The Department of Health is leading the way and we have already announced that we are cutting the number of civil servants by 38 percent. But it's important that this shift in the balance of power away from Whitehall to patients and frontline staff in the regions is carried out across the NHS," he said.
