Exclusive: NHSE finance chief quits in top team overhaul

Mr Kelly, who is also deputy chief executive, is announcing his departure today. CEO Amanda Pritchard announced two weeks ago that she would go at the end of the month, and medical director Stephen Powis is retiring in the summer. Chair Richard Meddings also leaves this month, as will Mr Kelly.

The CFO is understood to have already been planning his departure for this year but it has been accelerated by the arrival of Sir Jim Mackey as interim CEO. Other board departures are expected imminently.

Mr Kelly — previously a director general at the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury — has told colleagues it is the right time to go, given the direction of travel towards closer working with the government.

Wes Streeting, the health and social care secretary, wants to effectively combine much of NHSE with the Department of Health and Social Care, as part of a major restructure that will include further job cuts.

It also comes as Sir Jim signals a tougher and revised approach to the 2025-26 financial planning round, and has called local CEOs to London to discuss the need to “get a grip” on deficits.

No replacement has been named, but candidates are thought to include South West regional director Elizabeth O’Mahony, who was previously national finance director at NHS Improvement.

In a message seen by HSJ, Mr Kelly said: “After six years, seven Secretaries of State and a once-in-a-century pandemic, I am writing to you to let you know – ahead of a wider all staff announcement shortly – that I have decided to stand down as CFO at the end of the month.

“I am so incredibly proud to have worked with you all and for everything that we have done over those years. The list is too long to start. But now is the right time to step down and I wish Jim all the best as he builds on this important progress.”

Mr Kelly, an accountant by trade, became CFO at NHSE and NHS Improvement in April 2019. Before this, he held a string of senior roles in the civil service.

He has worked closely with the outgoing CEO, Ms Pritchard, to secure additional tech investment from the previous government, and to balance the NHS budget amid high inflation and tight financial settlements since the end of the covid-19 pandemic.

However, the number of integrated care boards and trusts in deficit has risen steeply, with almost all falling behind their financial plans in recent months and the service on course for a deficit approaching £3bn in 2024-25, and many believe the NHS has let its productivity slide.

Ms Pritchard, announcing her own resignation earlier this month, told staff “radical reform” was needed and this would be best served by new leadership.

She and Mr Kelly have also both been criticised by two committees of MPs in recent weeks.