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NHS England Abolished | Was this the recommendation from the Darzi Report?
Updated: 6 days ago
On 13th March 2025, Keir Starmer announced NHS England would be abolished due to the entity and functions being "overstretched" and "unfocused" to "cut bureaucracy" and bring the management of the health service "back into democratic control."
ICBs have also been asked to cut their workforce by 50%, which equates to around 12,500 staff across the health system.
Was this the recommendation from the Darzi Report?
The Darzi report was requested by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to provide an independent assessment of the current state of the NHS in England.
Lord Darzi (a surgeon, professor, and former Labour health minister) was asked to conduct a rapid investigation examining:
Patient access to NHS services
Quality of care
Overall performance of the health system
The recommendations from his investigation were the following:
→ Re-engage staff and re-empower patients
→ Lock in the shift of care closer to home by hardwiring financial flows
→ Simplify and innovate care delivery for a neighbourhood NHS
→ Drive productivity in hospitals
→ Tilt towards technology to unlock productivity
→ Contribute to the nation's prosperity
→ Reform to make the structure deliver without top-down reorganization
→ Main message: NHS is in critical condition, but its vital signs are strong
The report also highlighted how the 2012 Health and Social Care Act was 'a calamity without international precedent' that led to 'institutional confusion.' Darzi called it a 'scorched earth approach' that we're STILL recovering from and warned that constant restructuring is 'costly and distracting.'
As we witness yet another seismic shift in how our health service is managed, we're left wondering: is this bold reform exactly what the doctor ordered, or are we simply replacing one bureaucracy with another?
Will bringing the NHS back under democratic control finally deliver the care patients deserve, or will we be commissioning another investigation in a decade's time?
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/13/keir-starmer-abolishes-nhs-england-executive-body
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