David Nicholson (civil Servant)
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Sir David Nicholson is a public policy analyst and NHS Manager who is the Chair of
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust is one of the largest National Health Service (England), National Health Service teaching Trusts in England and comprises Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich, City Hospital, Birmingham, Rowley Regis ...
. He was previously the Chief Executive of the
National Health Service in England The National Health Service (NHS) is the Publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare sy ...
. He was appointed in October 2011 following the
NHS reforms The Health and Social Care Act 2012 (c. 7) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provided for the most extensive reorganisation of the structure of the National Health Service in England to date.''BMJ'', 2011; 342:d408Dr Lansley' ...
, having been seventh Chief executive of the NHS within the
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...
since September 2006. He issued what has become known as the " Nicholson challenge" regarding the finances of the NHS. He retired from the role on 1 April 2014 in the wake of the Stafford Hospital scandal.


Background

Nicholson was educated at Forest Fields Grammar School in
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
, and graduated from Bristol Polytechnic (now known as the
University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...
) with a 2:1 in History and Politics. He joined the
Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
after graduation,''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...
'', 27 October 2006, p. 10.
and remained a member of the party until 1983.


Career


Early career

Nicholson joined the NHS as a graduate trainee. For 10 years he worked in
mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
, mainly in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, where he was involved in implementing the policy of closing the old
asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...
s and developing
care in the community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional c ...
services.


Acute hospitals

In 1988, Nicholson moved into the acute hospital sector, appointed as the Chief executive of the Doncaster and Montague NHS Hospitals Trust, a first-wave
NHS trust An NHS trust is an organisational unit within the National Health Services of England and Wales, generally serving either a geographical area or a specialised function (such as an ambulance service). In any particular location there may be several ...
brought in under Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
. He introduced Clinical Directorates there in 1988 and the Trust was a national pilot for
Total Quality Management Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide effort to "install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value." ...
. Under his leadership the Trust promised all staff "a job for life, it may not be the job you are doing now, but you have a job for life with this trust". The promise was printed in various Trust documents including the "Strategic Direction". In 1997, he moved to the Trent NHS Regional Office as the Regional Director of Performance before being appointed as Regional Director in November 2000. Nicholson was then made Regional Director for the old Eastern and West Midlands Regions between December 2001 and March 2002, combining these responsibilities with his Trent role whilst shadowing as Director of Health and Social Care (designate) for the Midlands and East of England. In April 2002 he formally took up the post of Director of Health and Social Care for the Midlands and East of England. In 2003, he was appointed Chief executive of Birmingham and The Black Country Strategic Health Authority (BBC SHA). In August 2005 he was asked to take on the additional roles of Chief executive of neighbouring West Midlands South SHA and the Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA, during the period of the
Stafford Hospital scandal The Stafford Hospital scandal concerns poor care and high mortality rates amongst patients at the Stafford Hospital, Stafford, England, during the first decade of the 21st century. The hospital was run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Tr ...
. In April 2006, he was appointed Chief executive of the newly formed London Strategic Health Authority. However he had little opportunity to make his mark, as it was announced on 27 July 2006 that he would be taking up the role of NHS Chief executive in September 2006 in charge of a £90bn budget and 1.3m employees, his fifth job-change in a year.


Mid-Staffordshire

Sir David was chief executive of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority, the strategic health authority overseeing the
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was a NHS foundation trust which managed two hospitals in Staffordshire, England: * Stafford Hospital - acute hospital with approximately 350 inpatient beds, opened in 1983, Now renamed County Hospital ...
for a period when death rates were found to be high. Managers were too focused on finances and achieving targets, the then regulator, the Healthcare Commission found. Sir David issued a full apology, saying "I apologise to them on behalf of the NHS as a whole and for the fact that those patients, relatives and carers found themselves in the position where they not only had terrible things happen to them but the very organisation they looked to for support let them down in the most devastating of ways." Nonetheless campaigners whose family members died unnecessarily at the Stafford hospital have called for his resignation. An
early day motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by a member of Parliament, which the Government (in charge of parliamentary business) has not yet scheduled for debate. Hi ...
by Bristol MP
Charlotte Leslie Charlotte Leslie (born 11 August 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician who is the current Director of the Conservative Middle East Council. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bristol North West constituency, losing he ...
in February 2013 calling for Nicholson's resignation was supported by 20 MPs from both the ruling coalition Conservative party and the opposition Labour party.


Chief executive of NHS (2006–2014)

Nicholson became the seventh NHS Chief executive in September 2006. In October 2011, he was appointed Chief executive of the NHS Commissioning Board Special Health Authority, a transitional body established in shadow form to set up the eventual
NHS Commissioning Board 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 ...
. Its role is to make all the necessary preparations for the successful establishment of the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) in April 2013. In the meantime, all current NHS planning and delivery responsibilities still remain with the Department of Health, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts. The NHS Commissioning Board was renamed 'NHS England' on 1 April 2013. In September 2011, ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' revealed that Nicholson claimed expenses of over £50,000 a year on top of a basic salary of £200,000 and benefits in kind of £37,600 at a time when he was asking the health service to make cuts of £20 billion by 2015. His claim was three times an MP's accommodation allowance. In May 2013, it was announced in advance that Nicholson would be retiring in March 2014 from his post as Chief executive of NHS England. His resignation was a sequel to the
Stafford Hospital scandal The Stafford Hospital scandal concerns poor care and high mortality rates amongst patients at the Stafford Hospital, Stafford, England, during the first decade of the 21st century. The hospital was run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Tr ...
, because it was he who was in charge of "the regional health authority responsible for the hospital" at the height of the failings between 2005 and 2006. Health Secretary
Jeremy Hunt Sir Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2022 to 2024 and Foreign Secretary from 2018 to 2019, having previously served as Secretary of State for Health a ...
praised Sir David's leadership, saying: "NHS waiting times have fallen, infection rates
ave been is a Latin word, used by the Romans as a salutation and greeting, meaning 'hail'. It is the singular imperative form of the verb , which meant ' to be well'; thus one could translate it literally as 'be well' or 'farewell'. Etymology ...
reduced, and mixed sex accommodation is at an all-time low. His job has often been incredibly complex and very difficult, and yet he has always had a reputation for staying calm, and maintaining a relentless focus on what makes a difference on the NHS frontline." He told Hunt that "in healthcare we harm 10 per cent of patients".


NHS chair

He was appointed interim Chair of
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is an NHS trust which runs three hospitals and one ward in Worcestershire, England: The Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Kidderminster Hospital and Treatm ...
in March 2018. He was later appointed to the role of Chair on a permanent basis during December 2018. He was announced as Chair of
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust is one of the largest National Health Service (England), National Health Service teaching Trusts in England and comprises Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich, City Hospital, Birmingham, Rowley Regis ...
in March 2021, replacing the retiring Richard Samuda from the beginning of May. In July 2022 he was also appointed chair of Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust as he relinquished the job in Worcestershire.


Cyprus

He was appointed chairman of the newly-established State Health Services Organisation in Cyprus in 2018.


Personal life

He is divorced from his first wife; their family home was in
Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...
, and the couple have two sons. He is presently married to Sarah-Jane Marsh, who was a former intern on the NHS-graduate scheme, and became Chief executive of
Birmingham Children's Hospital Birmingham Children's Hospital is a specialist children's hospital located in Birmingham, England. The hospital provides a range of specialist services and operates the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for the city. The serv ...
in 2009. Nicholson is a supporter of
Nottingham Forest Football Club Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1865, Nottingham Forest hav ...
.


Honours

Nicholson was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in the
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
. He received an honorary Doctorate from
University of Central England Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic in 1971 and gained university status in ...
, Birmingham. He was appointed
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...
(KCB) in the
2010 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2010 were announced on 31 December 2009 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Saint Lucia, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Christopher and NevisSaint Chris ...
.


References


External links


Bio at NHS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Bristol Communist Party of Great Britain members English communists Chief executives of the National Health Service Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire