Amanda Pritchard has stepped down from her role as Chief Executive of NHS England amid growing discontent with the state of the health service and the “complacency” of its leadership. The Telegraph has more.
The health boss has decided to stand down next month following meetings with Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary.
It follows sustained pressure on Ms Pritchard who has come in for criticism from MPs in recent weeks.
Last month, a Parliamentary watchdog accused Ms Pritchard and her colleagues of the “worst complacency” seen by MPs in their plans to boost productivity in the health service.
Ms Pritchard, 49, took over as Chief Executive in August 2021 and has presided over mounting waiting lists after the pandemic.
NHS England said she had “decided now is the right time to stand down”, having discussed everything with Mr Streeting in recent months.
It added that the health service has “turned a corner on recovery from the pandemic and the foundations are in place to make the necessary changes to the centre to best support the wider NHS”.
Sir James Mackey, the Chief Executive of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will take over as “transition” Chief Executive.
In a statement, Ms Pritchard said: “It has been an enormous privilege to lead the NHS in England through what has undoubtedly been the most difficult period in its history.
“I am immensely proud of the NHS response to COVID-19, and how we have delivered steady recovery from the inevitable impacts of the pandemic, with performance in urgent and emergency care, elective and cancer all improving over the past two years, while NHS teams delivered record levels of activity in primary care, community and mental health services, meaning millions more appointments for patients.” …
Since becoming the Health Secretary in July, Mr Streeting has sought to tighten its grip on NHS England, ousting Richard Meddings as the organisation’s Chairman.
Mr Streeting said: “Amanda can be enormously proud of the leadership she has given in the face of the biggest health emergency for our country in modern history, as well as steering NHS England during turbulent political waters and six secretaries of state in her time as Chief Executive. She has led with integrity and unwavering commitment.
“The start of the next financial year and the publication of the 10-Year Plan for Health will be pivotal moments on the road to reform. We will also require a new relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England.
“I am delighted that Jim Mackey has agreed to step up to provide new leadership for a new era for the NHS. He knows the NHS inside out, can see how it needs to change, and will work with the speed and urgency we need.”
Worth reading in full.
In the Telegraph, Annabel Denham reminds us of Pritchard’s “greatest offence” when, in November 2021, she made the outlandish claim that “we have had 14 times the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 than we saw this time last year”:
Arguably Pritchard’s greatest offence came early in her tenure, when she parroted Covid claims that were clearly untrue. In November 2021, she claimed: “There is no doubt that the NHS is running hot and there are some very real pressures on health and social care. We have had 14 times the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 than we saw this time last year. We also had a record number of A&E attendance and a record number of 999 calls.”
The previous year, there were over 11,000 people in English hospitals with coronavirus. For her assertion to be correct there would need to be over 150,000 people in hospital with Covid by November 2021, nearly five times as many as during the peak of the winter wave in January. NHS England later clarified her remarks, but not before the seeds of doubt in the numeracy of its chief had been sown.
Unusually, earlier this year Pritchard was dragged down from her ivory tower and grilled by the Commons Health and Social Care Committee. In a rare move, it later issued a statement on her performance, during which MPs were left “exasperated”, later issuing a statement that she lacked “drive and dynamism”. This was released just hours after MPs on the Public Accounts committee published a scathing report, which raised serious doubts about Pritchard’s ability to deliver the NHS transformation ministers have promised to drive through.
If this weren’t sufficient grounds for resignation, it’s also widely suspected that she and Wes Streeting may not see eye to eye on reform. If true, perhaps there’s more hope for the NHS than I thought.
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