Movers and Shakers news roundup

Our latest Movers and Shakers roundup includes new chief executives for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, East Cheshire NHS Trust and East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust has announced the appointment of Dr Trevor Smith as chief executive. He will take up the role in the autumn from current CEO David French who, earlier this year, announced his decision to step down.

Zara Jones has been appointed chief executive of East Cheshire NHS Trust. She will officially take up the post on 1 October 2026, succeeding Ged Murphy, who is retiring at the end of July.

Jones joins from Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where she currently serves as acting chief executive.

An NHS England regional director is to step down after just over a year in the role. North East and Yorkshire regional team leader Fiona Edwards is leaving the post for personal reasons following ill-health.

The boss of one of England’s worst performing trust left in June 2026 after just six months in a move her boss acknowledged could raise “understandable questions”.

Michelle Arrowsmith, who began working as executive managing director at Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust in January, has now departed with deputy CEO of Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group Jo Segasby taking interim charge.

Veteran NHS executive David Loughton is returning from retirement to become the interim chief executive of the University Hospitals of Liverpool Group.

He stepped from this role at the Royal Wolverhampton Trust and Walsall Healthcare in 2024 after 38 years as a CEO, stating he had chosen not to “keep going forever”.

Martin Armstrong has been appointed chief executive at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. He replaces Adam Sewell-Jones, who left to lead Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Sir Norman Williams, the long-serving chair of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) Independent Reconfiguration Panel, resigned on 31 May 2026 citing personal reasons.

He has been temporarily replaced on an interim basis by Professor Simon Brake, chief innovation and engagement officer at Warwick Medical School, while the DHSC conducts a search for a permanent successor.

Professor David Sanders, consultant gastroenterologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and professor of gastroenterology at the University of Sheffield has been elected as the president elect of the British Society of Gastroenterologists, one of the world’s leading gastroenterology organisations.

PR firm Lexington has appointed Chris Hopson, former chief strategy officer and executive board member at NHS England, as a senior advisor to its Health Practice.

Hopson will support organisations seeking to build and strengthen relationships with the NHS, Government and third sector stakeholders, on a part-time basis.

Opto Health, a UK-based HealthTech company that provides a digital triage and patient-flow platform for hospitals providers around the world, has appointed Nick Prentice as chief operating officer.

He will lead operational delivery, implementation and growth as the firm continues to help healthcare organisations redesign the front door of urgent and emergency care.

Anenta, an independent healthcare waste management specialist, has appointed former NHS director of primary Care, William Cunningham-Davis, as its new director of development and partnerships.

Prior to joining Anenta, he served for more than 29 years across a variety of NHS organisations, most recently as director of primary care at North East London Integrated Care Board.