Two NHS chief executives have received a knighthood and a damehood in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List.
The list also recognised many other health professionals, including a number involved in responding to the London and Manchester terror attacks and the Grenfell fire.
James Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, was knighted for his services to health in England and to the North Tyneside and Northumberland community.
Sir James joined the NHS in 1990 and recently returned to Northumbria Healthcare – a trust recognised nationally for the quality of its services – after a two-year secondment as the first chief executive of NHS Improvement.
Sir Mackey said he was ‘delighted and humbled’ to have been awarded the knighthood.
Marianne Griffiths, chief executive of Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, also received a damehood for her services to the NHS.
Dame Griffiths said she was delighted to accept the honour, adding that it was a ‘wonderful tribute’ to all of her colleagues and their ‘endless acts of kindness’.
Major incident response
The two NHS chiefs were among dozens of health staff to be honoured in the list, including those who led the response to major incidents and terror attacks in London and Manchester.
An OBE was awarded to Dr Malik Ramadhan, who was in charge of A&E at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel on the night of the London Bridge attack and personally operated on 12 victims.
Paul Woodrow, who as director of operations for the London Ambulance Service played a leading role in providing swift care to the victims of the London terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Parsons Green, and to the victims of the Grenfell fire, received an OBE.
Colin Kelsey, head of emergency planning, resilience and response at Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, who led the NHS response to the Manchester Arena bombing, was also awarded an OBE.
Peter Boorman, NHS England’s lead for emergency preparedness, resilience and response received an OBE for his role in coordinating the NHS response to the Westminster and London Bridge attacks, the Grenfell fire, the Croydon tram crash and the Wannacry cyber-attack.
Leading mental health care
Staff working in mental health care were also honoured, with Dr Trudi Seneviratne, a consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, awarded an OBE for her work in providing care to new mums with post-natal depression and other mental health problems.
CBEs were awarded to Dr Sridevi Kalidindi, also a consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley, for services to rehabilitation psychiatry, and to Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national mental health director and chief of the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
NHS England’s director of health and justice, armed forces and sexual assault commissioning, Kate Davies, and clinical director for heart disease, Professor Huon Gray, also received CBEs, as did Professor Jane Cummings (pictured), regional director and outgoing chief nursing officer for England.
Lord Prior, chair of NHS England, said: ‘These are remarkable people doing extraordinary things for their fellow citizens.
‘The NHS is a unique organisation which has won the hearts and minds of all of us for over 70 years, but its success depends wholly on the people who work in it.
‘Those who have been honoured for their service this year honour us all. Many, many congratulations to them.’
