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UK PM Keir Starmer scraps NHS England to bring health services under ‘democratic control’

The National Health Service has seen an impact on its services due to COVID pandemic, an aging population and a series of strikes which has been dragging the economy.

uk keir starmer nhs englandBritain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer gestures during a Q&A session after delivering a speech on plans to reform the civil service, during a visit to Reckitt Benckiser Health Care UK Ltd in Kingston upon Hull, England. (Oli Scarff/Pool Photo via AP)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Thursday that his government was bringing back the health services under the control of ministers and abolishing the National Health Service (NHS) England, in a bid to save hundreds of millions of pounds and cut waiting lists and bureaucracy.

Starmer, who was elected in July last year, had promised to grow the economy and rebuild public services along with the NHS which according to a report was under a critical condition.

The National Health Service has seen an impact on its services due to COVID pandemic, an aging population and a series of strikes which has been dragging the economy.


According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, about 2.8 million people in Britain are economically inactive due to long-term sickness.

PM Starmer, in a speech in the northern city of Hull, said “I can’t, in all honesty, explain to the British people why they should spend their money on two layers of bureaucracy.”

Starmer further said on Thursday that abolishing NHS England would help in removing an unnecessary layer of red tape, and the frontline hospitals would have more cash to aid in the healthcare services.

UK’s health secretary Wes Streeting said, “Final nail in the coffin of the disastrous 2012 reorganisation, which led to the longest waiting times, lowest patient satisfaction, and most expensive NHS in history,” The Guardian reported.

The National Health Service England was set up in 2012 under a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government as a separate “arms length” agency to aid in deciding the spending priorities, oversee the service in England and negotiate contracts.

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