The NHS’s high physician in England, who performed a key function in advising ministers and the general public in the course of the Covid pandemic, will stand down this summer time.
Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s nationwide medical director, can have spent seven and a half years in put up by the point he retires in July.
He’s thought to have appeared at extra of the pandemic-era every day press conferences than every other NHS or medical chief.
The 64-year-old’s departure follows final week’s resignation of Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief government, amid a radical reshaping of its relationship with the Division of Well being and Social Care (DHSC).
Her successor, Sir Jim Mackey, began work this week working alongside Pritchard earlier than assuming full management of the organisation firstly of April. Mackey is predicted to provoke modifications to the make-up of NHS England’s senior management group shortly and likewise oversee its shift to working rather more carefully with the DHSC and shrinking its 13,000-strong workforce.
Saying his departure, Powis mentioned: “My time in put up has been dominated by the pandemic and its ongoing influence. I’ll for ever be humbled by the extraordinary work of employees all through the NHS to the best well being emergency in a century and I’m very pleased with the help and recommendation I used to be personally capable of give to employees, ministers and the general public.”
Wes Streeting, the well being secretary, mentioned: “Steve has supplied excellent scientific management to the NHS during the last eight years, together with in the course of the largest well being emergency our nation has confronted in trendy historical past. His information, professionalism, and steering helped the NHS rise to the challenges created by the pandemic.
“I wish to thank Steve, not just for his pivotal function within the Covid vaccine rollout, however for all his work as medical director, together with overseeing the group’s work within the creation of the nationwide affected person security technique.”
Claire Fuller, a GP who undertook a overview of major care providers for NHS England revealed in 2022, is the favorite to succeed Powis, sources say. Dr Vin Diwakar, a paediatrician and the organisation’s nationwide director of transformation, and Stella Vig, a surgeon who’s its joint nationwide director for deliberate care, are additionally seen as contenders.
