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 NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning si ...

and chief executive of

NHS Improvement NHS Improvement (NHSI) was a non-departmental body in England, responsible for overseeing the National Health Service's foundation trusts and NHS trusts, as well as independent providers that provide NHS-funded care. It supported providers to ...

from 2019 to 2021. She was chief executive of

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust of the English National Health Service, one of the prestigious Shelford Group. It runs Guy's Hospital in London Bridge, St Thomas' Hospital in Waterloo, Evelina London Child ...

from January 2016 to July 2019, having been acting chief executive from October 2015 to January 2016.

Early and personal life

Pritchard was born in May 1976 in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, the daughter of John Pritchard, later a Church of England bishop. She grew up in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, attending

Durham Johnston Comprehensive School Durham Johnston Comprehensive School is a secondary school in Durham, England. Introduction Durham Johnston is a 1700-place 11–18 school serving Durham City and communities beyond to the south and west. It is situated on Crossgate Moor, on ...

. She graduated from St Anne's College at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

with a degree in modern history. Whilst a student, she was the librarian of The Oxford Union. Pritchard is married with three children.

Career

Pritchard joined the NHS Management Training Scheme in 1997 and has worked for the NHS for her entire career. In 2002, she became a manager at

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust operates Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital (since 1 September 2015). The Foundation Trust was created on 1 October 2006. The Trust's chief executive is L ...

. From 2005 to 2006, Pritchard was the health team leader of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit under

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

, before returning to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2006 as deputy chief executive, aged 29. Six years later she moved to

as chief operating officer and was appointed as its first-ever female chief executive in 2015. On 5 June 2019, Pritchard moved to

and

as COO of NHS England and CEO of NHS Improvement. Effectively the deputy CEO of the NHS, she led it operationally through

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, the vaccine rollout, and its recovery, including service transformation, digitisation, and patient care improvements. Long seen as the frontrunner to replace Simon Stevens as CEO of the NHS, it was announced on 28 July 2021 that Pritchard would be appointed as the next chief executive of

; she took up the post on 1 August 2021 as the first woman in the role. On 3 August 2021 she was replaced as CEO of NHS Improvement by Stephen Powis on an interim basis. On 14 December 2021 she joined Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

and Health Secretary

Sajid Javid Sir Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the ...

in calling for volunteers to come forward to help with the COVID vaccine booster campaign. On 25 September 2023 Pritchard was appointed to the National Theatre Board. The Labour Government elected in July 2024 declared it had "full confidence" in Pritchard as head of the NHS. She has spoken about the need to address the NHS's 'productivity challenges' and emergency winter pressures. On 25 February 2025 Pritchard announced her resignation as CEO of NHS England following meetings with Health Secretary

Wes Streeting Wesley Paul William Streeting (; born 21 January 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford ...

and criticism from several

committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Amanda 1976 births Living people Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford British women chief executives Chief executives of the National Health Service People from Somerset