New health secretary must demonstrate “he has learnt from earlier mistakes”, say health bosses

Health bosses are urging the new health secretary, Steve Barclay, to demonstrate to health and care workers that he has “learnt from earlier mistakes”.

Mr Barclay previously served a short stint as health secretary under prime minister Boris Johnson. During this time, Mr Barclay approved a pay increase for NHS staff of 4.5%, something health bosses have described as a real terms pay cut due to high inflation.

Now that Mr Barclay has been reappointed as health secretary by the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, health leaders are urging him to fix pay and address some of the wider challenges facing the NHS.

What promises did Steve Barclay make during his time as health secretary?

During his two months as health secretary, Mr Barclay announced plans to tackle lower weekend discharge rates and create specific action plans for conditions like dementia and Parkinson’s, as well as delivering 7,000 extra beds in the community.

He set up an International Recruitment Task Force, planned to expand the number of community diagnostic centres and commissioned the first ever digital map of the health and social care department, to provide better transparency about how the tax payer’s money is being spent.

Mr Barclay revealed there are 18,600 people working in national NHS management bodies, 26,000 work in the NHS’s local Integrated Care Boards, and 7,000 work in Commissioning Support Units, costing more than £2bn a year. The majority of these employees do not provide direct patient care, and Mr Barclay said this money could be better spent on frontline services.

He put in place a recruitment freeze and has asked the Department to review all contracts, with a view of unlocking £170 million for health and social care.

Scaling back managerial roles could “damage the NHS further”

However, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said these managers “make a vital contribution to the safe and efficient running of patient services” and to scale these roles back “would be at best a false economy and at worse, it will damage the NHS further”.

“Mr Barclay would do well to remember that he is taking on one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world where management costs are considerably lower than in Western counterparts,” he added.

Mr Taylor praised the Health Secretary’s plans to reduce the overall number of performance targets across the health service and allow local health leaders to lead and shape the care for the communities they serve.

“With finances stretched even more given rising inflation and cost of living pressures, this will be more important than ever as we need to be realistic about what the NHS can deliver with the staff and resources made available,” said Mr Taylor.

Health secretary must meet with health bosses to discuss “fixing” pay

However, the British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), and the NHS Confederation are all concerned about the looming strike action due to happen this winter.

They encourage Mr Barclay to engage in conversation with health leaders “to hear what is needed to make the NHS safe for patients and a place doctors still want to work in”.

Professor Philip Banfield, BMA council chair, said Mr Barclay should meet with the Association to discuss restoring pay and fixing “punitive pension rules that are driving doctors to leave the NHS”, so that he can “see health and social care through the effects of spiralling inflation”.

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Pat Cullen, has said the health secretary must now learn from his “earlier mistakes”, saying that “care isn’t safe and unfilled nurse posts are at a record level due to neglect by ministers”.

“Last time in this job, the Health Secretary handed down the NHS pay cut we are currently balloting our members on. Within days, he will find out the result of that and the historic strike action that may result from it,” she said.