Movers and shakers news round-up

June’s Movers and Shakers round up features a new chief operating officer at the NHS and appointments at the Northern Health Science Alliance and Servelec. 

Amanda Pritchard has been appointed as the NHS’ chief operating officer (COO).

Currently chief executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust Pritchard will take up post full time on 31 July.

The COO will be directly accountable to NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, and serves as a member of the combined NHS England/NHS Improvement national leadership team.

The role oversees NHS operational performance and delivery, as well as implementation of the service transformation and patient care improvements set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

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.”

The Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) has announced Dr Séamus O’Neill is its new CEO.

O’Neill is currently chair of the national AHSN Network and CEO of the Academic Health Science Network for North East and North Cumbria (AHSN NENC).

He joins the NHSA in late summer as the organisation continues to drive investment into the North of England’s health sciences and representing the region’s interests at a national and international level.

O’Neill said: “The NHSA is a hugely significant organisation in a sector that is of vital importance to the future prosperity of the North of England. I have been privileged to support the development of the alliance in its first five years as a member of its Council and Operations Executive and I am delighted to be appointed to lead it through its next phase.

“We’ve achieved much with the NHSA from our Health for Wealth report, drawing attention the need for tackling North/South health inequality, developing health data excellence in the region with Connected Health Cities and in amplifying the North’s health science excellence internationally and within Government.

“There are great opportunities to take forward the NHSA’s ideals and vision including building on the NHSA as a cluster; and positioning the NHSA within the rapidly changing landscape of government life science strategy and investment.”

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH) has appointed Sanjiv Sharma as its medical director.

Sharma has been acting medical director since December 2018.

He said: “It’s an incredible privilege to take on this role on a permanent basis and to continue working alongside the exceptional people we have at GOSH. I’m looking forward to shaping the teams in the medical directorate over the coming months and to supporting our clinical services, education and cutting-edge innovation in child health.”

Guy Lucchi is set to join Health Innovation Manchester this month to help lead on the organisation’s digital transformation programme.

Lucchi has spent much of his career as a Chief Technology Officer with global IT giant DXC Technology (merger of CSC and HP enterprise services), leading on digital healthcare and life sciences initiatives across the group.

Health Innovation Manchester was formed in 2017 to accelerate the delivery of proven innovations across Greater Manchester’s devolved health and care system, to improve the health and wellbeing of the 2.8m population.

The organisation works across the health research, innovation and life sciences sectors, connecting researchers, industry and clinicians to transform care and outcomes for local people.

Lucchi said: “There has never been a more exciting time to work in health tech and Greater Manchester has many fantastic digital and data science assets to build on, and when these are coupled with delegated financial control for health and care across the city region with mature governance structures, the possibilities are endless.  I am really looking forward to working with the Health Innovation Manchester team and colleagues across the city-region to maximise the full benefits of digital technology to drive better outcomes for the citizens of the place where I come from.”

Servelec has appointed Sir Jonathan Michael and Neil Taylor as digital healthcare advisors.

The pair will work with the Servelec team to maintain momentum on sustained research and development investment in interoperable systems across the digital healthcare landscape. Particular focus will be given to Rio, Servelec’s EPR solution for the mental health and community sector and Flow, the bed management solution for acute and secondary care customers across the NHS.