Amanda Pritchard has been appointed as NHS Improvement and NHS England’s new chief operating officer, it has emerged.
Ms Pritchard, who is currently chief executive at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in central London, is expected to start her new role on 31 July.
She will be directly accountable to NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens, serving as part of the new combined NHS England and NHS Improvement leadership team.
Her remits will include overseeing the ‘NHS operational performance and delivery, and the implementation of service transformation and patient care improvements set out in the NHS long-term plan’, according to a statement by NHS England.
An ‘integral’ role
She takes the new role after Ian Dalton, the current NHS Improvement chief executive, announced in March he would be stepping down from the role.
He said he would have not applied for the new chief operating officer position, specifying that the new role would have been different to that of the chief executive position he held at NHS Improvement.
Commenting on Ms Pritchard’s appointment, Mr Stevens said: ‘This important appointment is integral to creating the newly combined NHS England and NHS Improvement, able to lead the next phase of the NHS’ development. Amanda will play a critical role in supporting further progress on quality of care, health outcomes and efficiency, as well as operational performance and delivery.’
About Amanda Pritchard
After joining the NHS through the graduate management training scheme in 1997, Ms Pritchard has worked in a variety of management posts, including a stint as deputy chief executive of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
She is currently chair of the Shelford Group of teaching hospitals – a collaboration of the 10 largest NHS hospital trusts in England – and is a trustee of the NHS Providers trade association.
Commenting on her own appointment, Ms Pritchard said: ‘It is a huge privilege to be joining NHS England and NHS Improvement at this exciting time and to have the opportunity to influence the NHS agenda and help deliver the long-term plan.
‘In doing so, I know that I will draw upon my experience leading Guy’s and St Thomas’ where our strong values and focus on the needs of our patients and staff is always at the heart of decision making.’
Making history
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson welcomed the appointment, adding that ‘it is good to see such a senior executive post in the NHS arm’s-length bodies taken – for the first time – by a woman’.
NHS Confederation chief executive Niall Dickson said: ‘Amanda is a terrific operator of the highest calibre, whom we hold in high regard. She has provided impressive leadership at Guys’ and St Thomas’, and her appointment will further strengthen the team at the top of NHS England/Improvement.’
