HSJ’s Top 50 Chief Executives recognises England’s top leaders of NHS trusts. In this, its ninth year, the number one spot is secured by Angela Hillery of Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust and Leicestershire Partnership Trust
Read HSJ editor Alastair McLellan’s commentary on the results
The Top 18
Number 1
Angela Hillery
Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust and Leicestershire Partnership Trust
Service Provided: Mental Health, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Outstanding, Requires improvement
Staff recommending care here: 71.8%, 62.3%
Number 2
Joe Harrison
Milton Keynes University Hospital Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 68.2%
Number 3
Owen Williams
Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 61.9%
Number 4
Lesley Watts
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 72.1%
Number 5
Richard Mitchell
University Hospitals of Leicester Trust
Service Provided: Acute
Latest CQC Rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 58.0%
Number 6
Eugine Yafele
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 71.1%
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Number 7
Paul Calaminus
East London Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Mental Health, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 64.4%
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Number 8
Joe Rafferty
Mersey Care Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Mental Health
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 66.8%
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Number 9
Dame Jackie Daniel
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 82.6%
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Number 10
Glen Burley
South Warwickshire University Foundation Trust, Wye Valley Trust, George Eliot Hospital Trust
Service Provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Outstanding, Requires Improvement, Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 75.8%, 57.1%, 60.3%
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Number 11
Caroline Clarke
Royal Free London Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute
Latest CQC Rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 66.1%
Number 12
Sir James Mackey
Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 79.6%
Number 13
Louise Stead
Royal Surrey Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 73.0%
Number 14
Carolyn Regan
West London Trust
Service Provided: Mental Health
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 63.9%
Number 15
Andy Hardy
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust
Service Provided: Acute
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 67.5%
Number 16
Nick Hulme
East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC Rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 57.6%
Number 17
Elliot Howard-Jones
Hertfordshire Community Trust
Service Provided: Community
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 77.8%
Number 18
Stacey Hunter
Salisbury Foundation Trust
Service Provided: Acute
Latest CQC Rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 55.4%
The remaining 32
Neil Carr
Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust
Services provided: Mental Health, Community
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 73.9%
Cara Charles-Barks
Royal United Hospitals Bath Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 67.9%
Matthew Coats
West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust
Services provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 49.4%
Daniel Elkeles
London Ambulance Service Trust
Services provided: Ambulance
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 57.9%
Penny Emerit
Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 56.2%
Dr George Findlay
University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 57.3%
Vanessa Ford
South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust
Services provided: Mental Health
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 56.1%
Sam Higginson
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 47.3%
Anna Hills
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust
Services provided: Mental Health, Community
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 63.5%
Karen James
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care Foundation Trust and Stockport Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Good, Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 54.2%, 56.7%
Dr Richard Jenkins
Barnsley Hospital Foundation Trust and The Rotherham Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC rating: Good, Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 64.4%, 49.7%
Dr Clive Kay
King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 63.6%
Matthew Kershaw
Croydon Health Services Trust
Services provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 54.2%
Kevin McGee
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 59.9%
Steve McManus
Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust - currently seconded as chief executive of the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board.
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 77.9%
Siobhan Melia
Sussex Community Foundation Trust - currently seconded as chief executive of South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust
Services provided: Community
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 77.9%
Daren Mochrie
North West Ambulance Service Trust
Services provided: Ambulance
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 59.8%
Michele Moran
Humber Teaching Foundation Trust
Services provided: Mental Health, Community
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 65.3%
Sara Munro
Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust
Services provided: Mental Health
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 58.6%
Claire Murdoch
Central and North West London Foundation Trust
Services provided: Mental Health, Community
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 64.4%
Dr Ify Okocha
Oxleas Foundation Trust
Services provided: Mental Health, Community
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 67.2%
Dr Nnenna Osuji
North Middlesex University Hospital Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 50.4%
Cally Palmer
The Royal Marsden Foundation Trust
Services provided: Specialist
Latest CQC rating: Outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 88.7%
Mel Pickup
Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute, Community
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 59.3%
Stephen Posey
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 67.6%
David Probert
University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 84.6%
Miles Scott
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 70.4%
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Matthew Shaw
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Foundation Trust
Services provided: Specialist
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 86.3%
Roland Sinker
Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 74.6%
Angela Stevenson
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Oustanding
Staff recommending care here: 66.6%
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Andrew Strevens
Solent Trust
Services provided: Community, Mental Health
Latest CQC rating: Good
Staff recommending care here: 79.6%
Matthew Trainer
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust
Services provided: Acute
Latest CQC rating: Requires Improvement
Staff recommending care here: 46.7%
Values-based leadership once again takes centre stage
Values and collaboration were at the heart of the judges’ considerations for HSJ’s Top 50 Chief Executives 2023
Judging HSJ’s Top 50 Chief Executives is a task that is both challenging and fascinating. In large part that is because the understanding of what makes for a great trust leader is ever-evolving.
That evolution has perhaps been particularly rapid over the last few years, with the exceptional pressures that have been wrought by the pandemic and by the growing elective care backlog. Where once a chief executive could legitimately consider his- or herself to be in direct competition with other local colleagues, now the ability to collaborate and form relationships is central. That requires a different skillset to the one that might previously have enabled a career to flourish.
This shift to collaboration reveals itself in the increasing number of chief executives that head more than one trust, and is one which has now become underpinned by the statutory basis of integrated care systems.
It meant that collaboration was a key theme of the judges’ deliberations this year. We were seeking leaders who see themselves as an active part of a wider ecosystem. We wanted to recognise those who are striving to deliver benefit for the entirety of their local health and care economy, not those whose sole focus is on their own organisation.
It is no coincidence that Angela Hillery, our number one chief executive, led NHS efforts to support a struggling independent mental health provider this year. Her belief that action had to be taken to avoid destabilising an entire health economy and affecting patient safety is the very embodiment of a collaborative approach.
It is also indicative of values-based leadership. This was another key part of the involved and thought-provoking discussion that the judges had in deciding on this year’s list. Our desire was to highlight chief executives whose work is grounded in unshakeable values – of compassion, of helping others, of inclusivity. The values of the NHS, in other words. With a workforce naturally exhausted having faced unprecedented demands – and in some instances taking industrial action – this becomes all the more important.
Judges were struck by the correlation between leaders who role model NHS values and those who run organisations with high staff survey scores. Where a chief executive clearly demonstrates the NHS ethos, it seems that their colleagues are more likely to recommend care at the organisation.
All of this reveals something important about what a good NHS leader looks like in 2023. It is someone who is collaborative, someone who is compassionate, someone who lives their values, someone dedicating to building relationships and connections to deliver the greatest possible benefit to staff and service users alike. The 50 people who are on the list this year all demonstrate just these qualities.
Judging HSJ's Top Chief Executives
HSJ’s list of the top chief executives in the NHS was judged by some of the service’s leading figures
Judges
- Paul Burstow, chair, Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB
- Sean Duggan, chief executive, NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network
- Dr Navina Evans, chief workforce officer, NHS England and chief executive, Health Education England
- Beccy Fenton, partner and head of health and human services, KPMG
- Dr Claire Fuller, chief executive, Surrey Heartlands ICS
- Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive, NHS Providers
- James Illman, bureau chief, HSJ
- Samantha Jones, non-executive director, Department of Health and Social Care
- Patricia Marquis, director for England, Royal College of Nursing
- Alastair McLellan, editor, HSJ
- Habib Naqvi, chief executive, NHS Race and Health Observatory
- Donna Ockenden, chair, independent review into maternity services at the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust
- Dr Bola Owolabi, director for health inequalities, NHS England
- Sir David Sloman, chief operating officer, NHS England
Ms Jones took no part in the discussions around Mr Harrison
Sir David was involved in deciding the top 50 but did not take part in choosing the top 18
Criteria
The judges were asked to bear in mind the following criteria for the top 50:
- The performance of the chief executive over the last year. We look for chief executives who have steered their organisations through these difficult times, including supporting staff and ensuring patients get the best care possible given the constraints trusts will have been facing. We also look at other aspects of leadership, while acknowledging the ability to demonstrate these may have been impacted by the pandemic and the pressures of the last few months. This covers chief executives’ leadership style and behaviours, including their approach to mentoring and developing more junior staff; encouraging inclusive leadership; how they work with their board, both executives and non-executives; and their standing among their peers and personal qualities.
- The performance of the organisation they lead, given the circumstances it is in. We will look at the results of the staff survey and any recent Care Quality Commission reports while acknowledging many organisations are struggling on the traditional metrics around waiting times.
- The contribution the chief executive has made to the wider health and social care system. This might be through leading on important projects, either nationally or locally, or taking on additional roles such as chairing integrated care partnerships. As integrated care systems have developed, we have sought chief executives who are working for the benefit of the system as a whole rather than only protecting the interests of their own organisations.