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Plans to cut personnel numbers in half at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care were unveiled the other day in the middle of drastic cost-cutting steps.

The 'bonfire of bureaucrats' is focused on removing duplication throughout the organisations after their workforces swelled during the pandemic.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is likewise looking for to tighten his control over the NHS, provide better value for taxpayers and free-up money for the frontline.

Three more NHS England board members yesterday revealed 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 join the exodus are Julian Kelly, the primary monetary officer, Emily Lawson, the chief running officer, and Steve Russell, the chief delivery officer and national director for vaccination and screening.

NHS England is the national quango tasked with supervising the daily running of the health service and its long-lasting technique.

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

NHS England said in a declaration: 'As part of the requirement to make finest possible use of taxpayers' cash to support frontline services, the size of NHS England will be significantly decreased and could see the size of the centre decrease by around half.'

The deeper staffing cuts follow a reduction of about 4,000 to 6,000 staff members at NHS England over the past 2 years and about 800 at the Department of Health and .

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

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

He stated: 'We understand that today's news is disturbing for our personnel, and we have significant challenges and modifications ahead.'We intend to have a transition team in location to start on the 1st April 2025 to help lead us through this period.'

Ms Pritchard said in a note to personnel, seen by the Health Service Journal: 'In the last couple of weeks, I have said I think the time is ideal for extreme reform of the size and functions of the centre to best assistance regional NHS systems and service providers to deliver for patients and drive the federal government's reform concerns.'

She stated Mr Streeting had asked Sir Jim and Penny Dash, the inbound NHS England chair, to 'lead this work, providing considerable 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 operate in specific helping guide the NHS through the pandemic.

'I've enjoyed working with each of them over the last eight months and I have actually been impressed by their ability and focus on providing improvement for clients and personnel.

'We are entering a period of critical change for our NHS. 'With a stronger relationship between the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, we will work together with the speed and seriousness needed to fulfill the scale of the difficulty.'

As of June in 2015, NHS England employed simply under 15,000 full-time equivalent staff, including permanent, short-term and consultancy. The Department of Health and Social Care had around 9,000, consisting of the UK Health Security Agency. These are both around 30 per cent more than in January 2020.

NHS England primary financial officer Julian Kelly has also included his name to leaders resigning from their positions

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

UNISON head of health Helga Pile said: 'Staff will be naturally concerned about this abrupt modification of direction.

'The variety of redundancies being looked for at NHS England has actually trebled in just a matter of weeks.

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

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

'Rushing through cuts brings a risk of creating a further, more complicated mess and might ultimately hold the NHS back. That would pull down the very individuals who need it most, the clients.'

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, stated: 'These changes are occurring at a scale and speed not anticipated to start with, however provided the huge savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes good sense to reduce areas of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

'NHS England has currently provided considerable cost savings and assisted to deliver improvements in efficiency, however nationwide bodies and regional NHS leaders understand that more is required this year.

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

'This need to have to do with doing things differently for the advantage of local neighborhoods as both clients and taxpayers, as well as for staff ahead of yearly study results on Thursday that are yet again anticipated to show the extreme obstacles they deal with.'

Wes Streeting