Unison says handling of NHS England abolition announcement ‘shambolic’
Unison, which describes itself as the largest healthcare union in the UK, has described the announcement about the abolition of NHS England as “shambolic”. Christina McAnea, its general secretary, said:
The health service needs thousands more staff and to be able to hold on to experienced employees. At the moment, it’s struggling to do that. Giving staff a decent pay rise would help no end.
But this announcement will have left NHS England staff reeling. Just days ago they learned their numbers were to be slashed by half, now they discover their employer will cease to exist.
The way the news of the axing has been handled is nothing short of shambolic. It could surely have been managed in a more sympathetic way.
Key events
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Early evening summary
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Ed Balls says cutting benefits for most vulnerable ‘is not going to work’ and is ‘not Labour thing to do’
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Leading health thinktanks say, while they can see case for abolishing NHS England, benefits for patients might be modest
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Ukraine needs guarantees as Putin’s ambitions ‘are barely disguised’, Starmer says
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Unison says handling of NHS England abolition announcement ‘shambolic’
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No 10 refuses to commit to reduction in overall number of quangos
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Peter Kyle uses ChatGPT for work research, FoI request reveals, as PM says he wants officials to use AI much more
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Former Tory health secretary Jeremy Hunt praises ‘boldness’ of Starmer’s decision to axe NHS England
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Streeting tells MPs he thinks reorganisation will reduce admin for doctors
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Streeting tells MPs countless Tories told him in private they should have reversed 2012 Lansley health reforms
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Streeting tells MPs abolishing NHS England will save hundreds of millions of pounds per year
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Streeting makes statement to MPs about abolition of NHS England
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Starmer says NHS England had to go because it was duplicating work done by Department of Health
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Starmer cites NHS England abolition as example of how he won’t duck making ‘difficult decision’
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Starmer rejects call from GB News for government to scrap all equality and diversity policies
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Streeting says abolition of NHS England ‘final nail in coffin of disastrous’ 2012 Tory health reorganisation
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Government says ‘world’s largest quango’ being scrapped, in reference to NHS England
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Starmer says he is not saying ‘it’s the fault of somebody else’
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Starmer announces NHS England quango being abolished, with central government back running health service
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Starmer says parts of state ‘see their job as blocking government’ from doing what it was elected to do
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Starmer says people want state to be more effective, not bigger
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Starmer speaks on civil service reform at Q&A in Yorkshire
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Decision not to classify Southport killer as a terrorist was right, says UK watchdog
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Peter Kyle says ministers want to be disruptors, but ‘in positive way’, when asked about similarities with Elon Musk
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Hospital waiting list figure for England falls slightly for five month in row
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Keir Starmer to outline reforms of ‘overcautious, flabby state’ in civil service speech
Early evening summary
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Unison, which describes itself as the largest healthcare union in the UK, has described the announcement about the abolition of NHS England as “shambolic”. (See 2.09pm.)
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Keir Starmer has said he wants to see central government being smaller, but more effective. In an interview with the News Agents podcast, after a speech in which he said that some parts of the state “see their job as blocking the government from doing the very things that it was elected to do” (see 10.57am), he said:
I think [the state] should be smaller, more agile. It should be active, and this is the political difference.
By and large, Conservatives don’t believe in the state. They think the free market should do the work. That’s why they think the state should be smaller.
I believe in the state. I think it should be active. I think it should be sleeves rolled up. It should be on the pitch, making a difference.
But at the moment, what we’ve got is an oversized and underpowered state, the complete opposite of the active state, that I believe would make a big difference.
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Gus O’Donnell, the former cabinet secretary, has described the way the government has communicated its plans to reform the civil service as “disastrous”. In an interview on Radio 4’s PM programme, O’Donnell, who was cabinet secretary from 2005 to 2011 and who is now a peer, said that he supported what Starmer was trying to do. But he went on:
So the substance, yes. There is definite scope for improving performance.
On the communications, it’s been nothing short of disastrous. You go back to the prime minister saying that civil servants were happy in the ‘tepid bath of managed decline’. And that Guardian briefing early in the week that they wanted to do ‘project chainsaw’. I mean – trying to be a mini Elon Musk, that is completely ridiculous.
And that’s not what the prime minister said. The prime minister was talking about building trust and respect for civil service, he talked about his time in the civil service, talked about the benefits you can get from talking to frontline people.
So they’ve got a serious mismatch between what the prime minister is saying and what they are briefing.
Asked if he was angry about this, O’Donnell said:
This is really damaging the prime minister and what he wants to achieve because, believe it or not, if you talk to civil servants and say they like managing decline and that you’re going to take a chainsaw to them, do you think that’s actually going to result in them forming of their best?
