Plans to cut staff numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care were revealed yesterday amid drastic cost-cutting measures.

The 'bonfire of bureaucrats' is intended at eliminating duplication across the organisations after their workforces swelled throughout the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, provide much better worth for taxpayers and free-up money for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members yesterday announced they will stop at the end of this month, following the current resignations of primary executive Amanda Pritchard and nationwide medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The most recent leaders to sign up with the exodus are Julian Kelly, the chief monetary officer, Emily Lawson, the chief running officer, and Steve Russell, the chief shipment officer and national director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the national quango entrusted with supervising the everyday running of the health service and its long-term strategy.

It was developed by the Tories in 2013 to give it greater political self-reliance however Mr Streeting is keen to restore tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England said in a declaration: 'As part of the need to make best possible use of taxpayers' money to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be drastically lowered and might see the size of the centre decrease by around half.'

The deeper staffing cuts follow a decrease of about 4,000 to 6,000 workers at NHS England over the previous 2 years and about 800 at the Department of Health and Social Care.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, amid strategies to cut staff numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health

Former NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard will step down from her position at the end of this month

NHS England chief shipment officer Steve Russell (left) and chief operating officer Emily Lawson (best) are amongst the newest managers to join the exodus

Sir Jim Mackey, who will become interim chief executive at the start of April, will establish a shift team within NHS England to 'lead the extreme decrease and reshaping of the centre with the Department of Health and Social Care'.

He said: 'We understand that today's news is unsettling for our staff, and we have considerable difficulties and changes ahead.'We aim to have a shift group in place to begin on the 1st April 2025 to help lead us through this duration.'

Ms Pritchard said in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: 'In the last couple of weeks, I have stated I believe the time is right for radical reform of the size and functions of the centre to best support regional NHS systems and providers to deliver for clients and drive the government's reform top priorities.'

She stated Mr Streeting had actually asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the inbound NHS England chair, to 'lead this work, delivering significant modifications in our relationship with DHSC to get rid of duplication'.

Mr Streeting said: 'I 'd like to put on record my thanks to Julian, Emily and Steve for their devotion as public servants, and their work in specific assisting steer the NHS through the pandemic.

'I've delighted in dealing with each of them over the last eight months and I've been impressed by their ability and focus on providing improvement for patients and staff.

'We are going into a duration of vital change for our NHS. 'With a more powerful relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will work together with the speed and seriousness needed to satisfy the scale of the obstacle.'

As of June in 2015, NHS England utilized simply under 15,000 full-time comparable personnel, including irreversible, momentary and consultancy. The Department of Health and Social Care had around 9,000, including the UK Health Security Agency. These are both around 30 percent more than in January 2020.

NHS England chief monetary officer Julian Kelly has also added his name to leaders resigning from their positions

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS nationwide medical director, revealed last week he would step down this summer season

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: 'Staff will be not surprisingly concerned about this unexpected modification of direction.

'The variety of redundancies being sought at NHS England has actually trebled in simply a matter of weeks.

'Em ployees there have actually currently been through the mill with unlimited rounds of reorganisation. What was already a difficult possibility has now become more like a headache.

'Fixing a broken NHS needs an appropriate plan, with main bodies resourced and handled efficiently so regional services are supported.

'Rushing through cuts brings a threat of creating an even more, more complicated mess and might eventually hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very people who require it most, the patients.'

Matthew Taylor, primary executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 'These modifications are taking place at a scale and speed not prepared for to begin with, but given the big cost savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes sense to minimize locations of duplication at a and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

'NHS England has actually already provided substantial savings and helped to deliver improvements in efficiency, but national bodies and local NHS leaders know that more is needed this year.

'These modifications represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS's national architecture in more than a years. It is essential that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are associated with this transformation as the instant next actions end up being clearer, so that an optimal operating design can be developed.

'This should have to do with doing things differently for the advantage of local communities as both patients and taxpayers, in addition to for staff ahead of yearly study results on Thursday that are yet once again expected to reveal the extreme difficulties they face.'

Wes Streeting