Plans to cut personnel numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care were revealed the other day amidst extreme cost-cutting measures.

The 'bonfire of bureaucrats' is focused on 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 value for taxpayers and free-up money for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members yesterday announced they will quit at the end of this month, following the recent resignations of president Amanda Pritchard and national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis.

The most recent leaders to join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the primary monetary officer, Emily Lawson, the chief operating officer, and Steve Russell, the chief shipment officer and national director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the national quango tasked with managing the day to day running of the health service and its long-lasting technique.

It was established by the Tories in 2013 to give it higher political independence but Mr Streeting is eager to gain back tighter control from within his Department.

NHS England stated in a statement: 'As part of the requirement to make finest possible use of taxpayers' cash to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be radically minimized and could see the size of the centre reduction by around half.'

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

Health secretary Wes Streeting is also seeking to tighten his control over the NHS, amid plans to cut personnel 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 delivery officer Steve Russell (left) and chief operating officer Emily Lawson (right) are among the current managers to sign up with the exodus

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

He stated: 'We understand that today's news is disturbing for our staff, and we have significant obstacles and modifications ahead.'We aim to have a transition team in location to begin on the 1st April 2025 to assist lead us through this period.'

Ms Pritchard stated in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: 'In the last number of weeks, I have stated I believe the time is best for radical reform of the size and functions of the centre to best assistance local NHS systems and service providers to provide for clients and drive the federal government's reform concerns.'

She said Mr Streeting had asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the incoming NHS England chair, to 'lead this work, delivering significant changes in our relationship with DHSC to remove duplication'.

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

'I've delighted in working with each of them over the last 8 months and I have actually been impressed by their skill and concentrate on providing improvement for patients and personnel.

'We are getting in a period of important change for our NHS. 'With a stronger relationship in between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will interact with the speed and seriousness needed to satisfy the scale of the difficulty.'

As of June in 2015, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent personnel, consisting of permanent, 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 financial officer Julian Kelly has actually also added his name to leaders resigning from their positions

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, announced recently he would step down this summer season

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: 'Staff will be not surprisingly worried about this abrupt change of instructions.

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

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

'Fixing a damaged NHS requires a proper strategy, with central bodies resourced and handled successfully so regional services are supported.

'Rushing through cuts brings a danger of producing a further, more complicated mess and might ultimately hold the NHS back. That would let down the very individuals who need it most, the patients.'

Matthew Taylor, primary executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 'These changes are taking place at a scale and pace not expected to start with, but provided the big cost savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to minimize areas of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

'NHS England has currently provided significant savings and helped to deliver improvements in performance, however nationwide bodies and local NHS leaders know that more is needed this year.

'These modifications represent the greatest reshaping of the NHS's national architecture in more than a decade. It is very important that regional NHS organisations and other bodies are involved in this transformation as the instant next actions become clearer, so that an optimum operating model can be created.

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

Wes Streeting