NHS chief ‘is new Cummings target’
SIR Simon Stevens is poised to step down as head of the NHS within the next few months – as the shake-up of public jobs under Boris Johnson’s Government continues apace.
Sir Simon is understood to be in discussions about leaving his position as the chief executive of NHS England early next year, with Dido Harding the head of the Government’s controversial test and trace programme, the early favourite to succeed him. The planned move, at a time when the health service is going through the most demanding period in its history, will spark speculation that he is another casualty of the Whitehall revolution launched by No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings, which has seen a number of senior mandarins – including former Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill – leave their jobs.
Last night a senior Government source said: ‘Simon has been doing the job since 2014, which is longer than most of his predecessors, and talks are under way about a new role in the public sector.’
Sir Simon, 54, has been friends with Mr Johnson since their time together at Oxford University, where he helped secure Mr Johnson’s election as president of the Oxford Union.
From 1997 to 2004 Sir Simon acted as an adviser to Tony Blair’s government, including three years in the No10 policy unit. David Cameron said he recruited him to run the health service because he ‘knows more about NHS problems and market solutions than any man alive’.