Keir Starmer's promise for GP appointments as Prime Minister announces NHS England will be abolished

Keir Starmer today announced a dramatic change to the way the NHS is run in England, with the Prime Minister declaring from Hull that NHS England was going to be abolished.

According to the PM this is a move that will 'cut bureaucracy' and bring the running of England's healthcare 'back into democratic control'.

To be clear, abolishing NHS England does not mean abolishing the NHS in England, but rather getting rid of the body that is tasked with 'overseeing the delivery of safe and effective NHS services'.

It's understandable why you'd think that something called NHS England would mean the NHS in England but it's more the thing that is responsible for running the NHS in England, at least for now.

NHS England decides how to distribute billions in funding among various NHS facilities including hospitals, GP surgeries and outreach clinics, and is tasked with securing 'best value for the taxpayer'.

Keir Starmer announced that NHS England would be abolished and the money saved spent on frontline healthcare services (Oli Scarff-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

However, it seems as though the Prime Minister reckons that best value would involve cutting thousands of jobs from NHS England and using the money saved on it elsewhere, as Starmer said money would be spent on 'nurses, doctors, operations, and GP appointments'.

NHS England's 13,000 strong workforce is set to be halved to 6,500, and the Prime Minister said there was 'duplication' of some roles between NHS England and the government's Department of Health and Social Care.

Starmer said that if they could 'free up that money' then they could 'put it where it needs to be, which is the front line', and one of his government's promises on healthcare is focused on GP appointments.

In their manifesto Labour claimed they would 'train thousands more GPs', as well as 'guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one' and change the appointment system to 'end the 8am scramble' each morning for Brits who need to see a GP.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting called NHS England 'the biggest quango in the world' and said he wanted the process of bringing many of its responsibilities back into government control finished in two years.

The government has said it wants to train thousands more GPs and end the '8am scramble' (Oli Scarff - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

“Overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly,” Starmer said in Hull as he described NHS England, claiming that as well as freeing up funds to be sent to the frontline of healthcare his decision to abolish the body would also cut red tape and speed up improvements that could be made to the NHS.

NHS England was given autonomy during the years of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, with the idea being to prevent political interference in the way the NHS was run.

The changes mean that the responsibility for delivering the current government's plans to increase GP appointments and reduce NHS waiting lists will now fall more on the government, they won't be able to point to NHS England and grumble that someone else did it wrong.

So in short the government will be more directly responsible for the NHS, there will be several thousand jobs lost and the money saved from that is meant to go on frontline things like GP appointments, doctors and nurses.

We'll have to see how they do.