Amanda Pritchard Quits as NHS Chief
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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Wouldn’t it be positive if the incoming Chief cuts all DEI schemes, training and funding as his first action.
But we know it won’t happen.
My guess is the new head will themselves be an individual who falls within a group favoured by DEI.
possibly not born in the UK
A labour supporter, and advocate for climate change.
“A labour supporter, and advocate for climate change…”
and with a foreign name and a suntan.
…and admitted there was in fact no pandemic…
…and that the NHS is used as a vehicle for enormous corruption and grifting…
We can only dream!
And if the incoming chief does not scrap all DIE and wokery we know it is – as you were.
And don’t let the door hit you on the arse love!
“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”
Good riddance!
Her appointment as CEO was quite controversial at the time. I think she was sacked from her previous job?
Sacked from her previous job? I’m shocked, truly shocked. Obviously got a fresh sinecure lined up already or has she been promised the H of L?
Pfizer Chief Executive?
Sometimes it is necessary for a politician to step in and regenerate an organisation. Mr Streeting may, or may not, be that politician… but it is shameful that it was not done under previous Governments.
“Regenerating” the (bang-a-pan) NHS requires a flame-thrower.
Which even better paid job will they find for her. She can’t start drawing her fancy pension for another six years.
Peerage probably….sign in for your daily allowance and then rush off to have lunch with your fellow peers…grrrrr
Wikipedia tells of Modern History graduate and career NHS managerial leader, with no medical background nor frontline experience of what she is managerially leading.
Nation’s problem in a nutshell since time immemorial. Too many Fenland Poly and South Midland Arts College graduates telling other people what to do.
Meanwhile do-ers up and down the country get on with it, re-roofing houses, extending boiler flu pipes to sit right on the new roofline and re-plastering the ceiling brought down by the sodden loft insulation when the old roof gave up the ghost. Thank you, fellas, good job well done.
““I am immensely proud of… “ recites a litany of things we know not to be true.
If it’s so great – why has she “stepped down”?
Is she so remote to reality or just a liar like the rest, and hope we won’t notice?
Anyway – who will be the next useless tool out of Two-tier’s dad’s workshop?
Getting rid of Amanda Pritchard won’t help. Ten year plans won’t help. The problem is that the NHS is overwhelmed by increasing inflammation in the population. It has been rising for 50 years and will continue to rise unless action is taken.
The action is clear advice on dietary changes which will optimise the microbiome and reduce infammation. Essentially a traditional diet with plenty of milk and yoghurt.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379311083_The_Microbiome_and_the_Entropy_Paradox_An_Evolutionary_Perspective_Food_Nutrition_Journal
Labour’s intent to destroy British farming is clearly not the answer.
The competency crisis writ large. When she says :it was an enormous privilege to lead blah blah….it was her :privilege: as a middle class midwit that propelled her. Into that job. When Streeting says she was ( fill in the manager speak bingo bland), inspirational leader, inspired her team. Etc. well I long for a minister to say. ‘ clearly she failed to deliver” or “ she was fekking useless.They are probably nervous that’s in their social media.
How long until she is ennobled?
She should not have had the privilege to resign, she should have been sacked. Looks like she jumped after a few prods but before being pushed. That’s what it looks like to me. There should be a purge of poor performing managers and personnel, just get rid.
I have no doubt Pritchard will be offered a well remunerated job elsewhere in the state apparatus or by a pharma company that supplies the NHS.
Lightweight turds always rise back to the top of the cesspit, poke ’em down and up they pop somewhere else.
She’s stepped down with the benefit of a golden handshake apparently worth about £112K.
In other words, she should have been sacked for incompetence, but Streeting didn’t have the guts to do it so, in true Labour style, she’s been paid off.
It’s only taxpayers’ money, after all.
There’ll also probably be a damehood bestowed on her in the none too distant future for ‘valuable services for society’. Sheesh!
At least we’ve got ” Gender Neutral ” toilets 🙄
“perhaps there’s more hope for the NHS than I thought.” That would be a triumph of hope over experience.
In what sense does the Chief Executive of NHS England “lead” the NHS, considering that the NHS is made up of independent hospital trusts, ambulance trusts etc etc?