Staff working in central operations at NHS England have been warned of job cuts of up to 50 per cent, as the government exerts tighter control over the top ranks of the independent body that runs the health service.
The announcement on Monday by Amanda Pritchard came as the outgoing chief executive of NHS England confirmed that a raft of senior health service officials would join her in stepping down this month.
A government official said thousands of jobs were expected to be cut under the plans and staff working at the Department of Health and Social Care would also be affected.
The official added that the “overall size of the centre would shrink by around 50 per cent” in an effort to improve productivity.
The planned cuts are part of a drive by health secretary Wes Streeting to curtail the independence of NHS England, which was first carved out of the central health department in 2012. Streeting last month promised “new leadership for a new era for the NHS”.
In an email to staff seen by the Financial Times, Pritchard said Streeting had instructed her successor, Sir Jim Mackey, and incoming NHS England chair Penny Dash to deliver “significant changes in our relationship with DHSC to eradicate duplication”.
“As part of this, they will be looking at ways of radically reducing the size of NHSE that could see the centre decrease by around half,” Pritchard wrote.
Pritchard said “all vacancies will be indefinitely frozen” and that NHS England would recruit only in a “very small number of exceptional circumstances”.
Officials said the 50 per cent cut would not apply to frontline clinician roles.
A formal “change programme board” will be set up between NHS England and the health department, according to the email.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are facing enormous challenges with our NHS. To tackle these we need to take radical measures and urgently get the right people working in the right places and stop them being held back by pointless paperwork and inefficiency.”
Pritchard added in her email that Julian Kelly, NHS England’s chief financial officer, chief operating officer Dame Emily Lawson and chief delivery officer Steve Russell had all informed the body’s board of their decision to leave at the end of this month, according to the email.
Last week Professor Sir Stephen Powis resigned as England’s national medical director.
After Pritchard quit, Streeting said “we will . . . require a new relationship between the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England”, and NHS England said Mackey would have “a remit to radically reshape” ties.
In a statement Richard Meddings, outgoing chair of NHS England, said: “Losing the combined wealth of experience, skill and education from Emily, Julian and Steve is an enormous loss.”