Chief financial officer Julian Kelly, NHS chief operating officer Emily Lawson and chief delivery officer and national director for vaccination and screening Steve Russell have informed NHS staff that they will leave their roles in the coming weeks.

In a message to all staff today, NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said that as part of the upcoming changes to the size and function of the centre, they have decided that now is the right time to step down.

In addition, the size of NHS England will be radically reduced and could see the size of the centre decrease by around half as part of the need to make best possible use of taxpayers' money to support frontline services.

Sir James Mackey, who will begin his new role at the start of April, will set up a transition team within NHS England to lead the radical reduction and reshaping of the centre with the DHSC.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: 'They have made a huge contribution to the NHS and the country as a whole and have been an enormous source of support for me personally.

'There is no doubt the last few years have been the most difficult in NHS history, and the continued improvements to health service performance and productivity would not have been possible without their invaluable experience, skill and dedication.'

She added: 'While now is the right moment for them to move on, I know they will be missed by their colleagues – not only for their professional brilliance, but their commitment to delivering the best for patients. I want to thank them all for their enormous contribution and wish them the very best in the future.'

Wes Streeting, secretary of state for health and social care, added: 'We are entering a period of critical transformation 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 urgency needed to meet the scale of the challenge.'

Richard Meddings, NHS England chair, said: ‘Losing the combined wealth of experience, skill and dedication from Emily, Julian and Steve is an enormous loss for NHS England.

‘Driving forward productivity increases, performance improvements and introducing a range of reforms is no easy task and they have all achieved that and more in the toughest of circumstances.'

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Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 'These changes are happening at a scale and pace not anticipated to begin with, but given the huge savings that the NHS needs to make this year it makes sense to reduce areas of duplication at a national level and for the NHS to be led by a leaner centre.

'NHS England has already delivered significant savings and helped to deliver improvements in productivity, but national bodies and local NHS leaders know that more is needed this year. 

'These changes represent the biggest reshaping of the NHS's national architecture in more than a decade. It is important that local NHS organisations and other bodies are involved in this transformation as the immediate next steps become clearer, so that an optimum operating model can be created.'

Interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: ‘They have played vital leadership roles through very challenging times including the pandemic and its aftermath, bringing skill, commitment and determination to support and improve the NHS. We wish them all the best for the future.

‘This must be about doing things differently for the benefit of local communities as both patients and taxpayers, as well as for staff ahead of annual survey results on Thursday that are yet again expected to show the extreme challenges they face.'