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Amanda Pritchard
British healthcare official From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Amanda Pritchard (born May 1976) was recently the Chief Executive of NHS England from 1 August 2021 until 31 March 2025. Previously, Pritchard was chief operating officer of NHS England and chief executive of NHS Improvement from 2019 to 2021.[1][2][3] She was chief executive of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust from January 2016 to July 2019, having been acting chief executive from October 2015 to January 2016.[1][4]
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Early and personal life
Pritchard was born in May 1976 in Somerset,[5][6] the daughter of John Pritchard, later a Church of England bishop.[7] She grew up in County Durham, attending Durham Johnston Comprehensive School.[5] She graduated from St Anne's College at the University of Oxford with a degree in modern history. Whilst a student, she was the librarian of The Oxford Union.[8]
Pritchard is married[citation needed] with three children.[4]
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Career
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Pritchard joined the NHS Management Training Scheme[9] in 1997[3] and has worked for the NHS for her entire career.
In 2002, she became a manager at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.[10][11][12] From 2005 to 2006, Pritchard was the health team leader of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit under Tony Blair,[13] before returning to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2006 as deputy chief executive, aged 29.[3][10][14] Six years later she moved to Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust as chief operating officer and was appointed as its first-ever female chief executive in 2015.[13]
On 5 June 2019,[3] Pritchard moved to NHS England and NHS Improvement as COO of NHS England and CEO of NHS Improvement. Effectively the deputy CEO of the NHS,[15] she led it operationally through COVID-19, the vaccine rollout, and its recovery, including service transformation, digitisation, and patient care improvements.[16]
Long seen as the frontrunner to replace Simon Stevens as CEO of the NHS,[17] it was announced on 28 July 2021 that Pritchard would be appointed as the next chief executive of NHS England; she took up the post on 1 August 2021 as the first woman in the role.[18] On 3 August 2021[19][20] she was replaced as CEO of NHS Improvement by Stephen Powis on an interim basis.[21]
On 14 December 2021 she joined Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Sajid Javid in calling for volunteers to come forward to help with the COVID vaccine booster campaign.[22]
On 25 September 2023 Pritchard was appointed to the National Theatre Board.[23]
The Labour Government elected in July 2024 declared it had "full confidence" in Pritchard as head of the NHS.[24] She has spoken about the need to address the NHS's 'productivity challenges' and emergency winter pressures.[25]
On 25 February 2025 Pritchard announced her resignation as CEO of NHS England following meetings with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and criticism from several committees of the House of Commons.[26]
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References
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