Health bureaucracy to be cut as quangos go
Quangos funded by the Department of Health are to be cut by half, leading to savings of £500m within three years. Health Secretary John Reid told the House of Commons on 20 May that 21 of the 42 bodies would be abolished or merged.
Dr Reid said that there were too many overlapping and duplicated functions
and some unnecessary regulatory and policy activities.
Back-office functions, such as human resources, finance, IT and estates
could be rationalised and many bodies could be merged, thus reducing
overheads and integrating similar functions. Some bodies could be given
independent status, with greater stakeholder control.
There will now be consultations with individual bodies on proposals for
merger, rationalisation or abolition. This should be completed by the
end of June, so that the final outcome can be announced before the Parliamentary
summer recess.
The quangos (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations) under review
include the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service, the National
Patient Safety Agency, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence,
the Health Development Agency, the Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency and the Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals.
A spokeswoman for the NPSA said that the agency supported the review,
which aims to improve efficiency. She added that the agency had no idea
what its future would be, saying: “We await the final outcome with
great interest.”
A spokesman for CRHP said: “CRHP believes it has an important and
continuing role to play in working constructively with the nine statutory
regulators to strengthen public confidence in the health professionals
who care for patients. It would not be appropriate for CRHP to second
guess what proposals the review may make in due course.” |
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