Health Secretary to sack poor NHS managers and publish hospital league tables | Politics | News

Hospitals will be ranked in league tables and and failing managers axed under government plans to crack down on poor NHS performance.

The Health Secretary will pledge on Wednesday to deploy expert teams to help struggling trusts, and to reward top performers by allowing them to reinvest budget surpluses into modernising buildings, equipment and technology.

Wes Streeting is expected to tell the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool that the reforms will “make sure every penny of extra investment is well spent and cuts waiting times for patients”.

He will say: “There’ll be no more turning a blind eye to failure. We will drive the health service to improve, so patients get more out of it for what taxpayers put in.

“Our health service must attract top talent, be far more transparent to the public who pay for it, and run as efficiently as global businesses.

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“With the combination of investment and reform, we will turn the NHS around and cut waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks.”

NHS England has been tasked with carrying out a “no holds barred” review of performance at trusts across the country. The findings will be made public and regularly updated.

Meanwhile, failing managers will be replaced and experts deployed to turn around providers with large deficits or inadequate services.

Poorly performing managers who fail to make progress will also be blocked from receiving pay rises.

And NHS trusts could be banned from using agency staff for roles such as healthcare assistants and domestic support workers in a bid to cut the £3billion cost of temporary staff.

However, NHS Providers urged the Government to address the “deep rooted causes of pressures on the health services” before taking such radical measures.

Those causes include “lack of resources for public health, prevention and social care, chronic workforce shortages, financial shortfalls and historic under-investment in the bricks and mortar of the NHS”, it said.

NHS Providers deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery added: “Taking steps to resolve these root causes is critical before any plans to introduce league tables and threats to ‘sack failing managers’ are even put on the table.

“Trust leaders are highly accountable, subject to rigorous standards and stand ready to tackle the challenges ahead, as they have always been. League tables bring with them significant risk of unintended consequences.”

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: “While NHS leaders welcome accountability, it is critical that responsibility comes with the necessary support and development.

“The extensive package of reforms, developed together with government, will empower all leaders working in the NHS and it will give them the tools they need to provide the best possible services for our patients.”