{"id":22897,"date":"2025-04-15T20:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/22897\/"},"modified":"2025-04-15T20:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:24:10","slug":"nhs-greater-manchester-has-to-save-41-million-from-staff-budget-as-governments-reforms-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/22897\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS Greater Manchester has to save \u00a341 MILLION from staff budget as government’s reforms hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHS Greater Manchester is \u2018required to submit an outline plan’ by the end of May of how millions will be saved, reports health writer Helena Vesty\"TheThe government\u2019s attempt to cut red tape could also mean that patients might not see desperately-needed improvements to the NHS anytime soon(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

NHS Greater Manchester will have to save \u00a341m of its \u00a3106m ‘total cost of people’ under the government\u2019s new NHS<\/a> reforms, the Manchester Evening News can report.<\/p>\n

There has been \u2018no detail on a national approach to any redundancies associated with these changes\u2019, says NHS Greater Manchester\u2019s chief officer for strategy, innovation and population health, Warren Heppolette.<\/p>\n

But NHS Greater Manchester is \u2018required to submit an outline plan by the end of May [of how the savings will be achieved]\u2019. That plan will involve a \u2018reduced headcount and cost\u2019 from that \u00a3106m in running costs, a Greater Manchester joint health scrutiny committee meeting was told today (April 15).<\/p>\n

This is yet more financial strife for the organisation<\/a> which commissions and pays for much of Greater Manchester\u2019s NHS services. The body is already under pressure to make huge savings after spiralling into hundreds of millions of pounds of debt \u2013 amid NHS strikes, hikes in medication prices, and funding shortfalls \u2013 since it was created in 2022.<\/p>\n

Just over a month ago, the Prime Minister announced that NHS England, dubbed \u2018the world\u2019s largest quango\u2019, will be dismantled.<\/a> Health Secretary Wes Streeting added that the number of staff employed by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, numbering 15,300 and 3,300 respectively, will be cut by 50 per cent \u2013 a cumulative reduction of around 9,000 roles.<\/p>\n

In March, details were scant on how the changes would work in practice. Now, the M.E.N. can report that NHS Greater Manchester will be forced to slash its operating costs as a result of the reforms.<\/p>\n

NHS Greater Manchester employs 1,400 staff in the region, including human resources staff, finance workers, IT staff, patient-facing nurses, and many people involved in planning, purchasing and monitoring both care in hospitals and in the community.<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Wes Streeting(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

NHS England only came into existence in 2013 as a public body delivering healthcare services with taxpayer money. It has worked with the government to set priorities and agree funding for the NHS.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, NHS Greater Manchester is an \u2018integrated care board\u2019 (ICBs) \u2013 one of 42 ICBs across England that are tasked with operating NHS services in a particular region. The ICBs are governed by NHS England and fall under the reforms, so now also have to \u2018reduce costs by 50 per cent\u2019 by December 2025.<\/p>\n

The group will also have to make all of these savings while still running the day-to-day services of the NHS set out in its annual plan, agreed with NHS England.<\/p>\n

The announcement caused a \u2018degree of alarm across the population because they thought it was an abolition of the NHS overall\u2019, heard the meeting of councillors and senior health leaders. The NHS in England is not being abolished, with frontline staff and services expected to remain the same and patients going unaffected.<\/p>\n

But the government\u2019s attempt to cut red tape could also mean that patients might not see desperately-needed improvements to the NHS anytime soon \u2013 that could deal with skyrocketing demand, waiting lists, near non-existent social care support. The changeover is expected to take two years.<\/p>\n

NHS Greater Manchester serves 2.9 million residents and is one of the largest organisations of its kind in the country. Other ICBs are looking to merge to \u2018remove duplication\u2019, but the meeting heard how such a move would be \u2018unusual\u2019 for the north of England which is covered by only seven, larger ICBs out of the 42 in total.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not on the cards for Greater Manchester,\u201d said Mr Heppolette. \u201cThis will be the integrated care board in Greater Manchester and will cover a Greater Manchester footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

On average, the ICBs must cut their operating costs down from \u00a332.98 per head of population to \u00a318.76.<\/p>\n

NHS Greater Manchester\u2019s reduction target stands at 39 per cent, which is a cut proportionate to the size of the organisation, said Mr Heppolette. \u201cThe total cost of people is about \u00a3106m, [those running costs are] the headline figure[s] associated with the proposed reductions….<\/p>\n

“That still stacks to quite a significant figure of \u00a341m from \u00a3106m,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Greater Manchester councillors voiced concerns that the news will drive some of the most experienced staff away(Image: Joel Goodman)<\/p>\n

NHS Greater Manchester faces the new reforms while already hundreds of millions of pounds in debt. The organisation has been on a \u00a3600m cost improvement plan against its \u00a38.5bn overall budget, and has previously said it will have to cut services that are not cost-effective to meet the challenge.<\/p>\n

The reforms against a background of financial woes means that NHS Greater Manchester has to further hone its operations to just the essentials. Mr Heppolette said the organisation must \u2018establish and consolidate itself as a purer strategic commissioner\u2019.<\/p>\n

The shock will be felt deeply for NHS Greater Manchester staff who are \u2018now technically at risk again\u2019 after only just coming out of an \u2018unsettling time\u2019 when clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were closed down to make way for ICBs.<\/p>\n

Greater Manchester councillors voiced concerns that the news will drive some of the most experienced staff away. The key to prevent that will be as much of an \u2018early signal of the shape of the changes to the organisation\u2019 as possible, which might give a \u2018sign that there\u2019s a future\u2019 for key people, Mr Heppolette told the meeting.<\/p>\n

The strategy boss said that NHS Greater Manchester should not \u2018wait for too much national guidance if [Greater Manchester leaders think they] can provide clarity\u2019 to worried staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHS Greater Manchester is \u2018required to submit an outline plan’ by the end of May of how millions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[279,748,1285,393,4884,105,2465,211,1286,1170,1290,1288,1026,1289,16,15,1287],"class_list":{"0":"post-22897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-bolton","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-bury","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-manchester","15":"tag-nhs","16":"tag-oldham","17":"tag-rochdale","18":"tag-salford","19":"tag-stockport","20":"tag-tameside","21":"tag-trafford","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-wigan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114343855283746974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}