Press release: Reform of arms length bodies welcome but review must be based on need not numbers

20 May 2004

Reviewing the number of arms length bodies in the NHS is a welcome move to shift resources to the frontline, but the vital patient-focused functions of some organisations must not be lost, the NHS Confederation said in response to today's announcement from John Reid.

Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "Streamlining and simplifying the relationship between the central organisations that regulate the NHS and those that deliver care is an important next step in shifting responsibility closer to the frontline. However, in the next stage of the review it is vital that the important patient-focused services offered by many of the organisations affected are not lost or damaged."

Gill warned: "It is important that this review is not driven by arbitrary targets for cutting staff or the number of organisations. A proper analysis is now needed to ensure we don't abolish in haste and repent at our leisure, as every organisation is set up to deliver important functions. However, it is clear that there are opportunities to share "backroom" functions to free up resources."

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Notes for editors

The NHS Confederation represents the organisations that make up the NHS. Our members include the majority of NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; trusts and NHS boards in Scotland; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.

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