The changes will not impact anyone's access to the NHS - but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it would bring management of the health service in England "back into democratic

NHS England - the administrative body which runs the national health service - is be abolished in a bid to slash red tape, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.

The UK government has announced the abolition of NHS England, phased over two years. In practice, this will involve merging some functions and staff from NHS England into the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). As part of the change, the government has stated that it expects to reduce duplication and save hundreds of millions of pounds.

The outgoing chair of NHS England has warned that a recent exodus of senior leaders poses “a real risk” to the service as the government tightens its grip on the cherished public health system.

Anyone interested in the history of healthcare in Britain will be familiar with the somewhat apocryphal quote from Nye Bevan upon the founding of the NHS, “if a bed pan is dropped on a hospital floor in Tredegar,

The NHS is the largest public sector organisation in England, seeing 1.7 million people each day including in patients’ own homes, local GP surgeries, pharmacies and hospitals. It employs 1.7 million people, is funded largely out of general taxation, and has an annual budget of about £190 billion.