A single joint executive team will be established at the
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England as
part of the transition to one organisation.
It will provide unified leadership across both organisations,
bringing policy and delivery together. The team will manage
directors from related work areas from 3 November 2025 and will
begin to combine resources.
In March, the Prime Minister announced NHS England would be
brought back into DHSC to end the duplication resulting from two
organisations doing the same job in a system currently holding
staff back from delivering for patients. By stripping back layers
of red tape and bureaucracy, more resources will be put back into
the frontline rather than being spent on unnecessary admin.
The new teams can be found below.
The single Joint Executive Team will comprise
of:
-
Samantha Jones, DHSC Permanent Secretary
-
Jim Mackey, CEO of NHS England
- Professor – Chief Medical Officer
- Tom Riordan – Chief Operating Officer/Second Permanent
Secretary
- Matthew Style – Director General, System Development
- Duncan Burton – Chief Nursing Officer for England
- Catherine Frances – Director General, Global, Public Health
and Emergencies
- Professor Lucy Chappell – Chief Scientific Adviser and
Director General, Science and Research
- Sally Warren – Interim Director General, Adult Social Care
(recruitment to the permanent role began in July)
- TBC – Interim Director General, Technology and Data
(recruitment to the permanent role will take place during autumn)
- Elizabeth O'Mahony – Interim Director General, Finance
(recruitment to the permanent role began in August)
- David Probert – Interim Director General, Performance and
Delivery (and continuing as NHS England's Interim Deputy CEO)
- Jo Lenaghan – Interim Director General, People (recruitment
to the permanent role began in August)
- Dr Claire Fuller and Professor Meghana Pandit – Interim
Medical Directors (recruitment to the permanent role will take
place during autumn)
- TBC – Interim Director General, Strategy and Healthcare
Policy (recruitment to the permanent role began in July)
- TBC – Interim Director General, Commercial and Growth
(recruitment to the permanent role began earlier in September)
Joint regional teams are also being established to serve as the
delivery arm of the centre, driving improvement and performance
locally.
Regional leadership:
- Louise Shepherd – Regional Director, North West
- Fiona Edwards – Regional Director, North East & Yorkshire
- Dale Bywater – Regional Director, Midlands
- Clare Panniker – Regional Director, East of England
- Caroline Clarke – Regional Director, London
- Sue Doheny – Regional Director, South West (while Elizabeth
O'Mahony is NHS England's Chief Financial Officer)
- Anne Eden – Regional Director, South East (until she leaves
at the end of March)
Existing DHSC Regional Public Health Directors will begin to
report into Regional Directors in the same area from 3 November,
subject to appropriate consultation, while continuing to work
with the Director General of Public Health and Emergencies.
National Priority Programmes are also being set up to drive
delivery of the government's key health priorities, drawing
together teams and expertise from across the organisations and
the country.
National Priority Programmes:
- Mark Cubbon – National Priority Programme Director for
Planned Care
- Sarah-Jane Marsh – National Priority Programme Director for
Urgent and Emergency Care
- Duncan Burton – Interim National Priority Programme Director
for Maternity, Women's Health, Children & Young People
- Dr Claire Fuller – Interim National Priority Programme
Director for Neighbourhood Health
- Recruitment to the role of National Priority Programme
Director for Mental Health, Learning Disability & Autism will
start shortly.
- Dr Amanda Doyle will continue as NHSE's National Director of
Primary Care and Community Services, and Glen Burley will
continue as NHSE's Financial Reset and Accountability Director,
both reporting to the NHSE CEO.
