NHS CEO will keep top-tier status

The NHS chief executive is set to have equal rank in government to the health department’s permanent secretary when NHS England is abolished – meaning a proposal to downgrade their status has been rejected by ministers.

The decision was made by health and social care secretary Yvette Cooper last week, after several weeks of deliberation over the choices she needs to make ahead of NHSE being scrapped, officials have been told.

Ms Cooper had decided the NHS CEO post will sit “alongside the permanent secretary” of the Department of Health and Social Care and with “equal rank” in government, the current NHSE CEO Sir Jim Mackey said at a staff meeting last week.

She wants a return to a departmental structure very close to that immediately before the creation of NHS England in 2012, Sir Jim said. This would include a distinct “NHS executive” group within the department, to run NHS-focused national work, led by the NHS CEO.

The decision means the NHS CEO will report directly to the health and social care secretary and, in central government, to the cabinet secretary, after NHSE is abolished, which is due to take place at the end of March.