Exclusive:Around 1,000 Yorkshire ICB staff likely to be axed in NHS shake up
Around 1,000 integrated care board (ICB) staff across the region are set to lose their jobs in Wes Streeting’s shake up of NHS bureaucracy, The Yorkshire Post understands.
The Health Secretary confirmed yesterday that 18,000 jobs are set to go as he pledged to reinvest the money “into the front line”.
Mr Streeting said this would save £1bn a year, which could fund an extra 116,000 hip and knee operations.
“I’m not running a job creation scheme, I’m running a National Health Service, and I’ve got to make sure that every penny that’s going in is going to the front line,” he told LBC.
The cuts will include around half the headcount at NHS England, which is headquartered in Leeds with 6,000 staff in the city, and also half of all ICB workers.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it was not setting out the location of job cuts for NHS England yet as it would depend on individual circumstances.
Mr Streeting previously said that Leeds would remain his department’s “second city” outside of London.
However, it is understood that of the three ICBs that cover Yorkshire - NHS Humber and North Yorkshire, NHS West Yorkshire and NHS South Yorkshire - around 1,000 jobs are likely to go.
A Humber and North Yorkshire ICB spokesperson said: “The reorganisation of ICBs is part of a national strategy to streamline NHS operations and focus resources on frontline care.
“While we recognise the need for efficiency, we are acutely aware of the impact on our staff and are working to ensure any changes are managed with transparency and compassion.
“We are awaiting further guidance from NHS England and the DHSC regarding funding for redundancy costs, and until this is clarified, formal consultation processes cannot begin.”
Unison, the UK’s largest union, hit out at the process as a “shambles”. Head of health Helga Pile said: “This process has been a shambles and should never have taken so long. Demoralised staff have had months of uncertainty, with the threat of job losses hanging over them.
"Large-scale redundancies like these should never be callously dismissed as cuts to 'bureaucracy'.
"In a few short months, the NHS will lose thousands of staff whose skills and experience will continue to be needed.
"That's because these cuts are being rushed through ahead of proper decisions being made about how best to run services.”