NHSE’s improvement teams axed

NHS England’s elective, emergency care and mental health improvement support teams are being axed – and their staff and functions merged into the Getting it Right First Time programme, HSJ has learned.

An internal email from national urgent care director Sarah-Jane Marsh last week said that as part of the NHSE restructure, the improvement functions “will be moving to a single structure and brand under the clinical leadership of Tim Briggs, founder of the GIRFT Programme”.

HSJ understands around 70 people work across the improvement support teams, most of whom are in the emergency care improvement support team (ECIST). NHSE did not confirm a figure, but it said the merger would not result in redundancies.

The move follows what was previously described as a “culture battle” between ECIST’s alleged “performance management”-style approach and GIRFT, which is seen as more collaborative.

Senior emergency care figures told HSJ they hoped the move would see the end of “clipboard performance management”.

Professor Matthew Cooke, a former national clinical director of urgent and emergency care, said: “I can see positives in having one organisation… In my experience, the places that improve are the places that work with you, not beaten up by you. If the clipboard performance management disappeared it would be a great step forward.”

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Source: HSJ, 13 October 2025