London (Parliament News) – It has come to light that Labour is poised to axe the head of NHS England if it succeeds in the election and substitute him with a party loyalist to assist in implementing its plans to revive the “broken” health service.
Who might Labour choose to lead NHS England?
The party is contemplating replacing Richard Meddings with the ex-health secretary Alan Milburn, the ex-home secretary Jacqui Smith, or Sally Morgan, who acted as Tony Blair’s political secretary. Labour desires to install a senior figure from the last time it was in strength to give it more influence over NHS England, which became separated from the government as a result of modifications made in 2012 by the then-Conservative health secretary, Andrew Lansley.
What role will Wes Streeting play in NHS changes?
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is ready to ensure that a new chair of NHS England will assist him in fulfilling his ambitious pledges to ensure the service is meeting targets for critical waiting times – in A&E and for scheduled hospital treatment – by the time of the next election in 2029.
Why does Labour want to replace Richard Meddings?
Strategies for Meddings to be dismissed after the election are an open secret in the NHS. The three leading candidates to replace him all have or have had significant NHS roles. As health secretary from 1999-2003, Milburn was an engineer of some radical changes made by Labour, including the design of foundation trusts, which are semi-autonomous from government control.
How does Labour plan to revive the “broken” NHS?
Jacqui Smith was a junior health minister in 2001-03 in the earlier days of her ministerial career, before Blair’s beneficiary, Gordon Brown, selected her as home secretary – the first woman to occupy the position– in 2007. She previously chaired the University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) trust and is now the director of Barts Health Trust in London, two of the NHS’s biggest care providers.
Lady Morgan, who was Blair’s head of government and political relations from 1997-2005, utilised to chair the Royal Brompton and Harefield professional heart and lung trust in London. She is now associate chair of Guy’s and St Thomas’ trust, which combined with her former trust in 2021.
Meddings was designated by the then health secretary, Sajid Javid, in January 2022 on a four-year agreement and took over his role two months later. The former Treasury board member and deputy chair of Teach First engaged on his appointment to contribute his ÂŁ63,000 salary to charity.
He is widely noticed as a “Tory banker”. However, colleagues state he is neither a member of nor contributor to the Conservative party and shares Labour’s study that recent governments’ underinvestment in the NHS and collapse to address its chronic lack of staff have left it incapable of responding properly to the growing need for care that an ageing population, Covid and poverty have helped create.
Milburn has preserved a close interest in the health service since Labour lost the 2010 election, including in his position as an adviser to PricewaterhouseCoopers. One source stated that Milburn, as an ex-health secretary, could be charged of “backseat driving” if he became the new NHS England chair.