Amanda Pritchard resigned as chief executive of NHS England on Tuesday, as the government signalled its intent to tighten Whitehall control over the struggling health service.
Announcing her departure, NHS England said Pritchard’s replacement, Sir James Mackey, would be given “a remit to radically reshape” the relationship between the health service and the government.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said Mackey had “agreed to step up to provide new leadership for a new era for the NHS”, and that ministers “require a new relationship” with the health service, which is facing a backlog of 7.46mn appointments.
Mackey, who is chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and served as NHS England’s acting interim chief operating officer in 2023, has been appointed “transition CEO” of NHS England, the body that runs the health service in England.
He will work closely with Pritchard for the next month before taking up the post on April 1.
Mackey “knows the NHS inside out, can see how it needs to change, and will work with the speed and urgency we need”, Streeting added.
The Financial Times has previously reported that the government will seek to unofficially bring the senior leadership of NHS England into central government in a push to improve accountability for the service’s performance.
Government officials have denied there is any plan to officially merge NHS England with the Department of Health and Social Care — a move that would reverse the operational independence granted to the service under contentious reforms introduced in 2012 by Andrew Lansley, then Conservative health secretary.
Pritchard said in a statement that it had been a “hugely difficult decision for me to stand down”. She added: “It has been an enormous privilege to lead the NHS in England through what has undoubtedly been the most difficult period in its history.”
Her decision follows criticism from MPs in recent weeks over her leadership of the health service, with the influential House of Commons public accounts committee warning that officials did “not seem ready to prioritise” the government’s plans for reform.
However, one government official insisted she “chose to resign and it was all very amicable”.
Pritchard, who joined the NHS graduate scheme in 1997 after leaving university, was the first woman to lead NHS England and had been in post since 2021. She previously served as chief executive of one of the country’s flagship hospitals, Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London.
Richard Meddings, outgoing chair of NHS England, said Pritchard’s exit was “a huge loss for the NHS” and that she had “made billions of pounds of savings for taxpayers”.
