How can the government make a success of the abolition of NHS England?
From Institute for Government by Institute for Government
January 29, 2026 · 60 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the implications and challenges of abolishing NHS England and merging its functions back into the Department of Health and Social Care.
On 13 March 2025, Keir Starmer announced the abolition of NHS England, the arm’s-length body responsible for overseeing, planning, funding and delivering the health service – with its functions to be merged back into the Department of Health and Social Care. Work on the transition is underway but key decisions are still to be made. What are the risks and opportunities associated with abolishing NHS England? How much progress has been made to date? What can be learnt from previous structural changes to the NHS and other parts of government? How can the government get the reform process right? To answer these questions and more, this webinar from the IfG and the Nuffield Trust brought together an expert panel featuring: Mark Dayan, Policy Analyst and Head of Public Affairs at the Nuffield Trust Stuart Hoddinott, Associate Director at the Institute for Government Sarah Reed, Senior Fellow at the Nuffield Trust The webinar was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. This webinar was kindly supported by the Nuffield Trust.
People in this episode
Host: Nick Davies
Guests: Mark Dayan, Stuart Hoddinott, Sarah Reed
Topics covered
- NHS reform
- government policy
- healthcare management
- structural changes
- public health
- risk assessment
Keywords
- NHS England
- Keir Starmer
- health service
- Department of Health
- Nuffield Trust
- government reform
- public affairs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NHS England, Department of Health and Social Care, Nuffield Trust, Institute for Government
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