The Department of Health and Social Care has told staff it expects the absorption of NHS England functions to be complete by April next year, as part of the quango’s abolition.
Details of DHSC’s timeline for the “merger” came in a staff meeting this week – more than 10 months after prime minister Keir Starmer announced NHSE would be scrapped to cut down on duplication of roles and bureaucracy.
According to the plans, work to design DHSC’s new “target operating model” will continue until April this year, with publication of the model expected in May. Detailed organisational design for the new model will run from March to August and a consultation on DHSC’s “future state” is scheduled for October and November.
The indicative timeline given to staff says “individual consultation” on filling posts within the reshaped department will take place between January and March next year, with the “new DHSC” starting operations in April 2027, following the passage and enactment of enabling legislation.
Staff participating in the briefing are understood to have been told that the reorganisation is about “building something more efficient and adaptable that feels truly new and empowers colleagues while maximising value for money”, rather than simply merging NHSE and DHSC.
When the abolition of NHSE and integration of its functions back into DHSC were set out last year, the announcement came against the backdrop of an expected halving of NHSE’s 15,000-strong headcount and further staffing reductions at the central department.
In November, health secretary Wes Streeting told parliament that 18,000 roles would go across NHSE, DHSC and Integrated Care Boards by March 2028, in a move expected to save £1bn a year by the end of the current parliament.
Last month, DHSC permanent secretary Samantha Jones told parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that the total cost of the redundancy exits is estimated at “£1bn to £1.3bn”. She said that expense would be borne by DHSC, NHSE, ICBs and Commissioning Support Units.
Reacting to this week’s staff update, the British Dental Association expressed concern about the slow progress of the health reorganisation and cautioned that professionals were being negatively impacted.
“We can only lament the pace at which the merger of the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England is being taken forward,” the organisation said. “These huge delays leave dental public health staff stuck in limbo, undervalued and unclear on whether they have a future.”
The BDA said it believed that more that more than 4,100 applications for what it described as the NHSE voluntary redundancy scheme are now being reviewed.
That figure would represent more than one quarter of the arm’s-length body’s current workforce – but imply that significant additional staffing cuts will be required.
Last week, public-spending watchdog the National Audit Office said that turmoil related to the abolition of NHSE is affecting the government’s New Hospital Programme. It said that the announcement of the plans had been follwed by the departure of senior staff working on the £60bn programme, and that a connected recruitment freeze had led to delays and challenges in hiring new staff.