The sixth HSJ listing of the NHS’s top 50 chief executives confirms trends which began to be established a few years ago. There are now 24 women in the top 50, up two from last year and 10 from the first ranking in 2014. Mental health trust chief executives continue to be over-represented in the list, while acute leaders are under-represented. The Shelford Group of England’s 10 largest teaching trusts have just four representatives in the top 50. Read HSJ editor Alastair McLellan’s commentary on the results.
Numbers 1-15
HSJ’s sixth annual list recognises the NHS leaders whose achievements in tough times impressed the judges
1 Dame Marianne Griffiths
Western Sussex Hospitals FT and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: outstanding and good.
Staff recommending care here: 81.3%; 67.7%
2 Dr Navina Evans
East London FT
Services provided: mental health and community services
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 70%
3 Stephen Dunn
West Suffolk FT
Services provided: acute and community services
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 82.9%
4 Julian Hartley
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
Services provided: acute and community services
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 80%.
John lawlor
5 John Lawlor
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear FT
Services provided: mental health
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 69.2%
Michael wilson
6 Michael Wilson
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 83.9%
john brouder
7 John Brouder
North East London FT
Services provided: mental health, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 64.5%
Rob webster
8 Rob Webster
South West Yorkshire Partnership FT
Services provided: mental health, community
Latest CQC rating: requires improvement
Staff recommending care here: 64.9%
9 Clare Panniker
clare panniker big
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals FT, Mid Essex Hospitals Services Trust and Southend University Hospital FT
Services provided: acute, acute and community, and acute and community
Latest CQC rating: good, requires improvement and good
Staff recommending care here: 69.9%, 66.5%, 67.2%
Jackie daniel
10 Dame Jackie Daniel
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals FT
Services provided: acute and community
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 90.3%
Sarah jane marsh
11 Sarah-Jane Marsh
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s FT
Services provided: specialist
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 80.7%
Nick hulme
12 Nick Hulme
East Suffolk and North Essex FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: requires improvement
Staff recommending care here: 68.3%
joe rafferty
13 Joe Rafferty
Mersey Care FT
Services provided: mental health
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 68.1%
robert woolley
14 Robert Woolley
University Hospitals Bristol FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 84.8%
Alwen williams
15 Alwen Williams
Barts Health Trust
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: requires improvement
Staff recommending care here: 69.1%
Numbers 16-50
Numbers 16-50 are listed in alphabetical order
samantha allen
Sam Allen
Sussex Partnership FT
Services provided: mental health
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 61.1%
tracy allen big
Tracy Allen
Derbyshire Community Health Services FT
Services provided: community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 82.8%
stuartbellcbe 0 small
Stuart Bell
Oxford Health FT
Services provided: mental health, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 70.6%
Tracy Bullock
tracy bullock 3x2
Mid Cheshire Hospitals Foundation Trust
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 77.5%
Glen Burley
Glen burley
South Warwickshire FT, Wye Valley Trust and George Eliot Hospital Trust
Services provided: acute, community and acute, and acute
Latest CQC rating: good, requires improvement and requires improvement
Staff recommending care here: 80.7%, 63.1%, 65.5%
Tomcahill
Tom Cahill
Hertfordshire Partnership University FT
Services provided: mental health
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 68.6%
nick carver
Nick Carver
East and North Hertfordshire Trust
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: requires improvement
Staff recommending care here: 63.7%
cara charles barks
Cara Charles-Barks
Salisbury FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 77.4%
Sheena cumiskey
Sheena Cumiskey
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership FT
Services provided: mental health, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 72%
neil dardis
Neil Dardis
Frimley Health FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 81.4%
michael deegan
Sir Michael Deegan
Manchester University Foundation Trust
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: Not yet inspected
Staff recommending care here: 75.4%
garrett emmerson1
Garrett Emmerson
London Ambulance Service Trust
Services provided: ambulance
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 75.7%
Tracey fletcher
Tracey Fletcher
Homerton University Hospital FT
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 75.1%
siobhanharrington 106040
Siobhan Harrington
Whittington Health Trust
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 69%
angela hillery small
Angela Hillery
Northamptonshire Healthcare FT
Services provided: mental health, community
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 79.1%
paul jenkins
Paul Jenkins
The Tavistock and Portman FT
Services provided: mental health
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 80.8%
clive kay
Dr Clive Kay
Bradford Teaching Hospitals FT
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: requires improvement
Staff recommending care here: 68%
Deborah Lee
Deborah Lee
Gloucestershire Hospitals FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 64.7%
jim mackey
Sir James Mackey
Northumbria Healthcare FT
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 83.2%
steve mcmanus
Steve McManus
Royal Berkshire FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 79.4%
Anthony marsh
Anthony Marsh
West Midlands Ambulance Service University FT
Services provided: ambulance
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 72.1%
siobhan melia1
Siobhan Melia
Sussex Community FT
Services provided: community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 79.5%
patricia miller small
Patricia Miller
Dorset County Hospital FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 80%
Claire murdoch
Claire Murdoch
Central and North West London FT
Services provided: mental health, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 65.5%
yvonne ormston
Yvonne Ormston
North East Ambulance Service FT
Services provided: ambulance
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 79.4%
Cally Palmer
Cally Palmer
The Royal Marsden FT
Services provided: specialist
Latest CQC rating: outstanding
Staff recommending care here: 94.3%
amanda pritchard
Amanda Pritchard
Guy’s and St Thomas’ FT
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 86.5%
carolyn regan
Carolyn Regan
West London Trust
Services provided: mental health, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 60.6%
andrew ridley
Andrew Ridley
Central London Community Healthcare Trust
Services provided: community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 68.4%
paul roberts small
Paul Roberts
2Gether FT/Gloucestershire Care Services Trust
Services provided: Mental health
Latest CQC rating: good and good
Staff recommending care here: 74.5% and 76%
Roland sinker
Roland Sinker
Cambridge University Hospitals FT
Services provided: acute
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 84.2%
melanie walker
Melanie Walker
Devon Partnership Trust
Services provided: mental health
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 59.8%
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Lesley Watts
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital FT
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 81%
owen williams
Owen Williams
Calderdale and Huddersfield FT
Services provided: acute, community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 69.6%
matthew winn
Matthew Winn
Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust
Services provided: community
Latest CQC rating: good
Staff recommending care here: 82.6%
MAPPED: EXPLORE THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES BY AREA
Click on a map pin to see more about the organisations our Top Chief Executives lead.
- Blue pin indicates the chief executive is ranked in the top 15
- Green pin indicates the chief executive is ranked 16-50
The future of leadership
Successful leaders will be those who not only manage the disruptive conditions of today’s world but thrive on them and enable others to do so, writes Kate Wilson
Kate wilson
There was a growing sense that a new generation of leaders has risen to the top in this years’ top provider chief executive awards. As the discussion continues in the system about what “good” looks like for NHS leaders two new and important themes stand out.
First, a clear emphasis on the creation of a diverse workforce and inclusive environment as a non-negotiable. Secondly, increased levels of attention on the talent management agenda with leading chief executives engaging broadly at the local, regional and national level.
New demands
This focus on future talent, particularly diverse future talent, reflects changing times and will be critical for the NHS going forward. We’re seeing new demands on leaders in the NHS and beyond as they react to a local and global context of ongoing change and volatility.
They must have flexible mindsets, the ability to spot and capitalise on opportunities fast and the capability to create adaptable organisations that continuously innovate
As the future becomes increasingly hard to predict, one thing is clear; the successful leaders of the future will not look the same as the past. Korn Ferry’s new research shows that above all else, they must have flexible mindsets, the ability to spot and capitalise on opportunities fast and the capability to create adaptable organisations that continuously innovate.
In other words, successful leaders will be those who not only “manage” the disruptive conditions of today’s world but thrive on them and enable others to do so.
These capabilities are not a nice to have: our research in the private sector shows that many investors are starting to value future vision and orientation over past performance when they consider an organisation’s likely success. They may be right to do so.
We reviewed the Korn Ferry global data on 150,000 leaders and our research highlighted how those with the right future oriented skills to operate in this context were more likely to be working for a company which ranks high on the Global Innovation Index or Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies.
What are these leaders doing in practice? They combine a range of capabilities with a focus on connecting people and resources, shifting mindsets and creating and maintaining energy and purpose for mutual organisation and individual growth.
Korn Ferry research identified the following characteristics of effective future leaders.
Anticipate: They demonstrate contexual intelligence to make quick judgments and create opportunities; provide a direction to unify collective efforts even among disoriented environments.
Drive: They energise people by fostering a sense of purpose; manage the mental and physical energy of themselves and others; nurture a positive environment to keep people intrinsically motivated.
Accelerate: They manage the flow of knowledge to produce constant innovation and desired outcomes; use agile processes, and iterative approaches to rapidly implement.
Partner: They form partnerships across increasingly permeable functional and organisational boundaries; enable the exchange of ideas; combine complementary capabilities to enable high performance.
Trust: They form a new relationship between the organisation and the individual that centres on mutual growth; integrate diverse perspectives and values; help individuals to uncover their sense of purpose and facilitate them in providing their maximum contribution.
link to report
This is a challenging profile and it’s not surprising that only 15 per cent of the leaders in our database showed this range of capabilities, with the UK showing particular gaps in “Accelerate”.
This raises some questions for those developing the next generation of leaders, both in terms of what “good” looks like and how you spot and develop them. Traditional approaches to talent pipelines and development are unlikely to work.
Where should today’s leaders start? Perhaps by recognising that this talent looks different, may be difficult to listen to and challenging to manage. As they constantly agitate for change, it’s easy to label people with these attributes as trouble-makers rather than harnessing them as positive disruptors. Fortunately, in the top 50 list we see the NHS has some leaders at the top who will welcome this challenge.
Kate Wilson is associate client partner at Korn Ferry
Judging the HSJ top chief executives
HSJ’s annual analysis of the NHS’s top trust chief executives was judged by some of the service’s leading figures
Judges
Care Quality Commission chief inspector Professor Ted Baker
NHS England director of workforce race equality standard implementation Yvonne Coghill
Former Royal College of Physicians president Professor Dame Jane Dacre
Outgoing chief executive of Salford Royal Foundation Trust and Pennine Acute Hospital Trust Sir David Dalton
NHS Confederation chief executive Niall Dickson
MIND chief executive Paul Farmer
Unison head of health Sara Gorton
NHS Leadership Academy chair Peter Homa
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson
HSJ correspondent James Illman
NHS Clinical Commissioners co-chair Dr Graham Jackson
HSJ editor Alastair McLellan - chair
NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer
NHS national urgent and emergency care director Dame Pauline Philip
Director of health and wellbeing system improvement programme Local Government Association Caroline Tapster
Speciality registrar and author of MBA dissertation on NHS leaders Dr Alex Till
Korn Ferry associate client partner Kate Wilson
Our judges took account of three main criteria in making decisions on the HSJ top 50 chief executives.
- The personal example set by the chief executive. This covers their leadership style and behaviours including 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. This will include performance against the key targets; financial performance; staff survey results; and quality of care.
- 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. Examples include success in leading a Sustainability and Transformation Partnership; taking on a national role such as lead for an area of care; or spearheading local improvements.