Following 20 years of experience in the health service, spanning commissioning, provider and strategic roles, Stephen joined Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as its Chief Executive in November 2016.
Since then, Stephen has successfully delivered the move to a new state-of-the-art clinical site on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, seen the hospital endorsed with Royal status by Her Majesty the Queen, and led it to become the first in the country to receive an 'outstanding' rating across all Care Quality Commission (CQC) domains. In 2019, working in partnership with the University of Cambridge, Stephen secured the funding for the co-located Heart and Lung Research Institute (HLRI) which will open in Spring 2022.
In addition to his Chief Executive role, Stephen is a member of the national Organ Utilisation Group, established by the Department of Health and Social Care to provide a premier healthcare system that delivers equity, excellence, and innovation to meet the needs of those on the transplant waiting list.
A strategic and system leader in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System, Stephen sits as Chair of the NHS East of England Operational Delivery Network, is a Trust ‘well led’ reviewer on behalf of the CQC and a Director of Cambridge University Health Partners, an academic health science centre with the mission of improving patient care by bringing together the NHS, industry and academia.
Previously, Stephen worked in Hertfordshire where he successfully delivered a £150 million investment programme to reconfigure acute services across the area, to improve clinical outcomes and enhance the development of specialist services.
