Movers and Shakers news roundup

Our latest Movers and Shakers roundup includes the appointments of chief executives at the new NHS Alliance and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust.

Sir Ciarán Devane, chair of the Health Service Executive in Ireland, has been named as the first chief executive of the NHS Alliance, a new organisation formed from the merger between NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation.

From April 2026, the NHS Alliance will bring NHS leadership together, represent their views to government, and support them to improve their services at a time of significant pressure and transformation for the NHS.

Mike Fell, director of national cyber operations at NHS England, announced last month that he is stepping down from his role.

He will leave in mid-May to take up the post of chief security officer at the Department of Work and Pensions.

Karl Munslow Ong has been appointed as chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for Children. He has more than two decades of senior leadership experience and most recently served as deputy chief executive at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

He has also held senior executive roles at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and other London teaching hospitals, where he led successful major digital and estates programmes.

Matthew Trainer has been appointed chief executive at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, succeeding Clive Kay, who announced his retirement last November and will depart this summer.

Trainer has been chief executive at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust since 2021, having led Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust for three years before that.

Ashley Dalton announced that she has resigned as health minister on “medical grounds”, saying she needed to make “reasonable adjustments” while undergoing treatment for advanced breast cancer. She will continue as MP for West Lancashire.

Sharon Hodgson, MP for Washington and Gateshead South, has been appointed health minister. Under the last Labour government, she serves as a Parliamentary aide to ministers in several departments, including health, and as an assistant government whip.

On 2 March, Gerard Crofton-Martin stepped into the role of interim chief executive at the Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE). It came after Kathryn Marsden OBE stepped down from her role as SCIE’s chief executive after almost six years.

Dawn Greaves joined Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust as chief digital information officer on 2 March. She was previously associate director of digital transformation at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Hayley Grafton has been appointed as group chief nursing information officer and Ramandeep Kaur as group chief X information officer across University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group.

Ged Murphy has announced he will retire as chief executive at East Cheshire NHS Trust at the end of July after five years in leadership roles. Murphy has led the trust as substantive chief executive since 2022, after serving on an interim basis and a short stint as finance director.

The Health Foundation has welcomed Alex Schoenfeldt as chief investment officer. He was previously head of investments at Lumyna, a $23bn (£17.2bn) asset manager that is part of Generali Investments and led external investments for the British Airways Pension Fund.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has announced Dr Lucinda Etheridge, a consultant in general and adolescent paediatrics, as the latest member of its governing body, the GMC Council.

She joins from St George’s Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group in Surrey, where she is site chief medical officer.