Cowper’s Cut 364: The Woman In Black fades out
Denis Campbell
Well, I called it wrong.
Ooops.
The Woman In Black, NHS England’s CHINO (chief executive in name only) Amanda Pritchard had enough of the public humiliation, and this morning leaked her resignation to Wes Streeting (following their meeting yesterday) to The Guardian’s Denis Campbell.
Ms Pritchard has made a ghost of herself, denying Mr Streeting the opportunity of dismissing her at a time of his choosing.
This is not happening to Team Streeting’s agenda. Their plan, about which I wrote in the last column, was that she would be allowed to stay in post for at least a couple more months as the in-fighting over producing the NHS 10-Year Plan resolved itself - or was resolved from above.
However, multiple sources have described Ms Pritchard’s increasingly evident discontent at being low down the priority order in being asked to speak by Mr Streeting at policy and planning meetings (and when asked, being expected to perform a merely affirmative role).
She is jumping before being pushed, so although it’s a ‘chapeau’ to Ms Pritchard for defenestrating herself, it‘s a fairly tiny one.
Mr Streeting’s two-tweet thread on Kiss (formerly Twitter) about Ms Pritchard’s exit has a fine subtext.
I'm delighted that Jim Mackey has agreed to step up to provide new leadership for a new era.
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) February 25, 2025
The next few months will be pivotal moments on the road to NHS reform.
Jim knows the NHS inside out, can see how it needs to change, and will work with the speed and urgency we need.
“Jim knows the NHS inside out, can see how it needs to change, and will work with the speed and urgency we need” is an almighty ‘fuck you, Amanda!’, no?
As I have often stated, Ms Pritchard may have many fine qualities - and she has shown a certain resolve by pulling the trigger on her tenure in this way - but she was never a leader. There has been no Pritchardism.
Let the rumour mill begin to turn.