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Simon Laurence Stevens, Baron Stevens of Birmingham, (born 4 August 1966) is a British public policy adviser, former CEO, and independent member of the UK House of Lords. He served as the eighth
Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England from 2014 to 2021.
He first joined the NHS in 1988, and worked at the Department of Health and 10 Downing Street, as well as internationally, including in Guyana, Malawi, and in the United States. A former member of the
Labour Party, Stevens was a councillor in the
London Borough of Lambeth
Lambeth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London ...
from 1998 to 2002. Stevens served as a senior executive at the
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest ...
from 2004 to 2014, an American for-profit
managed health care
The term managed care or managed healthcare is used in the United States to describe a group of activities intended to reduce the cost of providing health care and providing American health insurance while improving the quality of that care ("ma ...
company which offers health care products and insurance services. He was also a Visiting Professor at the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
from 2004 to 2008.
Stevens was appointed as Chief Executive of
NHS England
NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, 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 side of the ...
after a worldwide competitive search, and served under Prime Ministers
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
,
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
and
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
. During his tenure as Chief Executive, Stevens was annually ranked the most influential person in UK health. On the announcement of his retirement as head of the NHS, he was hailed by the ''
Health Service Journal
''Health Service Journal'' (''HSJ'') is a news service that covers policy and management in the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
History
The '' Poor Law Officers' Journal'' was established in 1892. In 1930, it changed its name after ...
'' as the most important figure in NHS history since
Aneurin Bevan. On 5 July 2021 he became a crossbench
Member of the House of Lords
This is a list of members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Current sitting members
Lords Spiritual
26 bishops of the Church of England sit in the House of Lords: the Archbishops of Canterbury and ...
before stepping down from NHS England after seven years on 31 July 2021. He was succeeded by his deputy,
Amanda Pritchard
Amanda Kate Pritchard (born May 1976) is a British healthcare official and public policy analyst who has been the Chief Executive of NHS England since 1 August 2021. Pritchard previously served as chief operating officer of NHS England and as chi ...
.
Early and personal life
Simon Stevens was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, England,
the son of a Baptist minister and a university administrator. He was educated at a state comprehensive,
St Bartholomew's School in
Newbury, Berkshire, and won a scholarship to
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, where he was elected
president of the Oxford Union
Past elected presidents of the Oxford Union are listed below, with their college and the year/term in which they served. ''Iterum'' indicates that a person was serving a second term as president (which is not possible under the current Union rule ...
. His friends at Balliol reportedly ranged from Green activist
Rupert Read
Rupert Read (born 1966) is an academic and a Green Party campaigner and a former spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. Read is a reader in philosophy at the University of East Anglia to
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, who credited Stevens with Johnson's own election as Oxford Union president. Stevens later received an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
, Glasgow and was a
Harkness Fellow
The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several coun ...
at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, New York.
His wife, Maggie, is a public health specialist from New York City, and board member of the West London Synagogue. Their son was born on Christmas Day 2003 at
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...
and their daughter in 2008.
He lists his hobbies as family, offshore sailing, books and "cooking without recipes". He competed in the 2021 Rolex
Fastnet Offshore Race.
NHS
After university, Stevens first worked in
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
, and then from 1988 to 1997 as a healthcare manager in the UK and internationally. He started his NHS career on the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme at Shotley Bridge General Hospital, the largest employer in
Consett, County Durham, after the closure of the
steel works
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finis ...
.
After a spell in
Congo and
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
, he became general manager for a large NHS psychiatric hospital outside Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and ran community mental health services for North Tyneside and Northumberland. He was then appointed group manager of
Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London before moving to
New York City Health Department
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is the department of the government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcem ...
.
Government
Stevens served as a senior government policy adviser for seven years from 1997 to 2004: first to successive
Secretaries of State for Health
The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The incumbent ...
(
Frank Dobson
Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...
and
Alan Milburn
Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...
) at the UK
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 ow ...
, and then as senior policy adviser in the
Number 10 Policy Unit
The Number 10 Policy Unit is a body of policymakers based in 10 Downing Street, providing policy advice directly to the British Prime Minister. Originally set up to support Harold Wilson in 1974, it has gone through a series of guises to suit the ...
to Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
. He was closely associated with the development of the
NHS Plan 2000
The NHS Plan 2000 was a ten year plan of the Blair ministry for the National Health Service (England). It combined a commitment to substantial investment with some quite radical changes. The most controversial aspect of the plan was the introducti ...
. He was also an elected Labour councillor for
Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...
, in the
London Borough of Lambeth
Lambeth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London ...
1998–2002, though for at least the past decade he has not been a member of any political party.
UnitedHealth
From 2004 to 2014, Sir Simon was a senior executive at
UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest ...
. Initially appointed president of UnitedHealth Europe, he became CEO of UnitedHealthcare's $30 billion Medicare business, and then corporate Executive Vice President and president of its global health businesses spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He also was a director of Brazil's largest hospital grou
AMIL
He was instrumental in establishing an academic institute to publish information about the costs of US health care. These data showed that - contrary to prior research mainly using public Medicare data - cost differences in the working age population were often because of market pricing power by hospitals, rather than because of excessive use of services by patients.
He also served on the boards of various non-profits, including the
Minnesota Historical Society; the
Minnesota Opera
Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded as the Center Opera Company in 1963 by the Walker Art Center, and is known for premiering such diverse works as ''Where the Wild Things Are'' by Oliver ...
; and the
Medicare Rights Center The Medicare Rights Center is a nonprofit organization founded in June 1989 as the Medicare Beneficiaries Defense Fund (MBDF) by Diane Archer. The organization's self-declared mission is to "ensure access to affordable health care for older adults a ...
(New York), as well as the
King's Fund
The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events.
Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with GlaxoSmithKline. Th ...
and the
Nuffield Trust
The Nuffield Trust, formerly the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, is a charitable trust with the mission of improving health care in the UK through evidence and analysis.
The Nuffield Trust is registered with the Charity Commission as char ...
.
Chief Executive of NHS England
As the
NHS England CEO, Stevens has been directly accountable to Parliament for management of £150 billion of annual NHS funding. He frequently gives evidence to the
Public Accounts Committee, the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, and other Parliamentary committees. He has used the statutory independence of NHS England to speak openly about NHS funding and reform. As of 2020, Stevens was paid a salary of between £195,000 and £199,000 by NHS England and each year he has opted for a voluntary £20,000 pay cut.
According to
Fraser Nelson
Fraser Andrew Nelson (born 14 May 1973) is a British political journalist and editor of ''The Spectator'' magazine.
Early and personal life
Nelson was born in Truro, Cornwall, England but raised in Nairn, Highland, Scotland. He attended Nairn A ...
, hiring Stevens back to run NHS England was one of the cleverest moves that
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
made because he "knows more about NHS problems and market solutions than any man alive". ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported one health expert as saying "He's coming back to a pay cut
ndthe mother of all messes". Stevens' own assessment was that "For the NHS the stakes have never been higher. The global recession has meant the NHS facing its most sustained budget crunch in its history. Service pressures are intensifying, and longstanding problems are not going to disappear overnight." Stevens said his aim was to "Think like a patient, act like a taxpayer." In a speech following his appointment to the role of CEO in 2014 he set out an agenda for reform. A profile in the ''British Medical Journal'' claimed he is "intellectually gifted, charming, funny, and a great communicator. He is a natural and persuasive leader who exudes quiet confidence. He is widely read and writes superbly. He's got such a big brain he can be easily bored
uthe is a 'natural egalitarian'. Another comments, 'The new system is about distributed leadership. That will play to his strengths. He’s very collegiate.' A third says, 'He’s pragmatic and not ideologically driven. He’ll ask how we can make this work. He’s seen the rough end of the NHS - Stevens’s predecessor in one post
ied bysuicide'."
During the
2019 general election campaign, while the
Labour Party said they would generally not comment on public officials, they stated they had a "good relationship with Simon Stevens and respect him." In March 2019 it was announced Stevens would also lead the hospital regulator, NHS Improvement, effectively merging it into NHS England.
As NHS England Chief Executive, he has given lectures and speeches at the universities of
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
,
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, and previously at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
,
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
, and
NYU
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
. Before taking up his NHS role, from time-to-time he authored articles in various health-related research journals. He is regularly interviewed on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
,
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
, ''
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions
''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' ...
'' and ''
The Today Programme
''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is a long-running British morning news and current-affairs radio programme on BBC Radio 4. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, it is produced by BBC News and is the ...
'', as well as ''
The Andrew Marr Show
''The Andrew Marr Show'' is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021.
The programme replaced the long-running '' Breakfast with Frost'' as the network's flagship Sunday talk show when D ...
''. He has also appeared on ''
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio personality, presenter, broadcaster and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guest ...
'', ''
BBC Breakfast
''BBC Breakfast'' is the BBC television Breakfast television, breakfast news programme. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on BBC One and the BBC News (TV channel), BBC News channel. The simulcast is presented live, originally from ...
'', ''
Any Questions?
''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience".
It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 8 p ...
'' and ''
The One Show
''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...
''.
Innovation and research
As CEO of NHS England Stevens oversees £19 billion of annual investment linked to medical and life sciences specialised services, innovation and R&D. He also established a ring-fenced fund within NHS England worth £680 million annually for innovative new medicines, particularly for rare conditions. He has actively promoted
genomics
Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...
, and cell and gene therapies on the NHS. In autumn 2018 he announced that the NHS had become the first health service in Europe to negotiate approvals for newly licensed breakthrough
CAR-T
In biology, chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)—also known as chimeric immunoreceptors, chimeric T cell receptors or artificial T cell receptors—are receptor proteins that have been engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specifi ...
cancer therapies. NHS England successfully negotiated the introduction of
whole exome sequencing
Exome sequencing, also known as whole exome sequencing (WES), is a genomic technique for sequencing all of the protein-coding regions of genes in a genome (known as the exome). It consists of two steps: the first step is to select only the subset ...
to diagnose rare diseases in children. In March 2021 Stevens announced that NHS England had also successfully negotiated a confidential deal to make available a gene therapy said to be "the most expensive drug in the world" with a reported list price of £1.8 million per patient. He also launched an international research partnership on early cancer diagnosis using advanced blood tests.
He publicly refused to accept the prices US drug company Vertex initially wanted to charge the NHS for its cystic fibrosis drugs, until the company eventually agreed a confidential discounted deal for UK patients. He also accused Essential Pharma of "using the cover of coronavirus to try and price-gouge British taxpayers". The UK
Competition and Markets Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
subsequently took action, calling the company's plans "particularly concerning".
He has pushed the use of AI and Machine Learning in healthcare and NHS England is hosting a new £250 million NHS AI Lab. Speaking at the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
in Davos he launched the first wave of NHS Innovation Test Beds. and introduced a new NHS innovation payment. NHS England funds
Academic Health Science Networks, and Stevens supported the
Accelerated Access Review
The Accelerated Access Review was an initiative commissioned by the government of the United Kingdom, working with the Department of Health (United Kingdom), Department of Health. The Accelerated Access Review aimed to speed up access to innovativ ...
arguing:
"As a nation we need to pursue three goals simultaneously. First, we must actively support new discovery and further development of innovative treatments and care. Second, we have no choice other than to drive value and affordability across the NHS if we're going to create headroom for faster and wider uptake of important new patient treatments. And third, in the run-up to Brexit we need not only to secure - but enhance - our vibrant and globally successful UK life sciences sector."
Stevens took action to stop NHS funding of
homeopathy
Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...
, on the grounds that it is "at best a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds." NHS England was sued by the
British Homeopathic Association
The British Homeopathic Association (BHA) is a British charity founded in 1902 by John Epps to promote the pseudoscience homeopathy and advocate for its training and research. The BHA was re-branded in 2021 to Homeopathy UK. It seeks to encourage ...
who argued that Stevens' criticisms, including on the BBC Radio 4
''Today'' programme, prejudged its public consultation. The High Court dismissed the BHA challenge, and backed NHS England. In 2019 Stevens added: "Anything that gives homeopathy a veneer of credibility risks chancers being able to con more people into parting with their hard-earned cash in return for bogus treatments which at best do nothing, and at worst can be potentially dangerous". He later warned patients not to believe claims that homeopathic 'duck extract' was an effective covid treatment. In a speech at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
he took aim at the "dubious and dodgy" anti-science in Gwyneth Paltrow's Netflix show, ''
The Goop Lab''.
NHS reform
He was responsible for the
Five Year Forward View
The Five Year Forward View was produced by NHS England in October 2014 under the leadership of Simon Stevens as a planning document.
Publication and reception
It received praise for brevity, being only 39 pages, and lacking the illustrations wh ...
produced by NHS England in October 2014. This marked the beginning of a major shift in how NHS care is delivered, in contrast to NHS policy since 1991. Instead care is increasingly being redesigned to achieve what Stevens labelled the "triple integration" of primary and specialist care, physical and mental health services, and NHS and social care. He has argued that government pay freezes for NHS staff, made to achieve cost savings, threatened the NHS's ability to recruit and argued that NHS wages should keep pace with the private sector.
He has told the BBC that the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
has accelerated the move to integrated care:
"People have said this was the biggest health challenge since World War Two. It was in preparation for the Blitz in 1939 that hospitals started working together in Emergency Medical Service which became the embryonic NHS. You could argue that over the last twelve months the way the NHS has mobilised for the vaccination programme, and also the way hospitals worked together to ensure patients got the intensive care they needed, together with better working with community services and local government - that sets the blueprint for the next phase of our NHS."
From April 2021 the whole of England is now covered by Integrated Care Systems responsible for improving population health, cutting inequalities, and joining up local services.
Stevens has prioritised the modernisation of primary care, mental health and cancer care having commissioned an independent national taskforce led by Sir Harpal Kumar the chief executive of Cancer Research UK. Breast cancer deaths have subsequently fallen faster than in other large European countries and outcomes are estimated to have caught up with or surpassed the European average. In 2015 he commissioned the independent Five Year Forward View for mental health, chaired by Paul Farmer the head of MIND. He subsequently introduced shorter waiting times standards for mental health services, directed that each year local mental health spending must rise faster than overall NHS funding growth, and then extended that commitment to primary care and community health funding. He has however recently challenged the longstanding assumption that this will mean there is a need for fewer hospital beds.
Given increasing concerns about young people's mental health and eating disorders, he voiced concern on the BBC's ''Andrew Marr Show'' about cosmetic surgery adverts during ITV's ''
Love Island'' series. Shortly after, ITV's chief executive agreed to reconsider the ads, and the Advertising Standards Authority went on to ban them. He has suggested that social media companies might be asked to contribute to funding improved mental health support for young people. He has announced a dedicated confidential national mental health support service for NHS doctors, and 40 new mental health hubs for NHS staff affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stevens is a supporter of expanded university places for the health professions such as undergraduate medicine and nursing, which could also meet the "surge in interest" in these careers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. As well as supporting expanded health training opportunities for UK workers, he has backed ongoing selective international recruitment in the NHS. In October 2015 speaking to the
Institute of Directors
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...
at the Albert Hall he queried why ballet dancers but not nurses were on the
Home Office's 'shortage occupation list. A week later the government added nurses to the list.
He led the introduction of an NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard to track and improve the experience and fair treatment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff across the health service, and agreed to create and fund the NHS Race and Health Observatory. He proposed the creation of a 'freedom-to-speak-up index', which is now used across the NHS to track the openness with which staff concerns can be reported. He supports tougher regulation of health care managers, and has openly criticised care at a small number of maternity units, backing needed improvements with a £97 million investment package. Stevens supports a greater role for the voluntary sector and volunteering in the NHS, as a complement to the work of NHS staff.
Stevens has pushed to give local communities more control over national budgets, including stronger 'Devo Manc' regional powers for
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
. He has repeatedly argued for the importance of social care. In October 2018 he pledged up to £50 million for extra NHS support for the community affected by the
Grenfell Tower fire
On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...
. The ''
Local Government Chronicle
The ''Local Government Chronicle'' (''LGC'') is a British weekly magazine for local government officers, and is published by Metropolis. The magazine was launched in 1855 by bookseller and publisher Charles Knight . It was then published by E ...
'' ranked him the most powerful figure in local government.
NHS funding and Brexit
Stevens has argued that "One of the problems with NHS funding over the last 70 years has been its volatility. So, we bounce off the banks between boom and bust and that makes it very hard to plan services." In November 2017 Stevens gave a high profile speech making the case for a return to NHS funding increases in line with historic norms and independently assessed requirements. He did so against the backdrop of a
Vote Leave
Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leav ...
poster which had promised £350 million a week for the health service and which, he said, the "public want to see honoured". His call was widely supported both inside the NHS and outside it, ranging from Brexit-supporting
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. Now a backbencher, he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council ...
to the Remain-supporting general secretary of the
TUC.
In June 2018 – just ahead of the NHS' 70th Anniversary – the Prime Minister
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
announced extra funding for the NHS worth an average real terms increase of 3.4% a year, reaching £20.5 billion extra in 2023/24. Stevens led the NHS' 70th anniversary celebrations, including giving the address on 5 July 2018 in the national service of thanksgiving at
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
.
The
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
and Stevens wrote jointly on the 72nd anniversary of the NHS in July 2020 that: "Our NHS is the embodiment of the spirit of community. It has become a unifying ideal across this nation, and down the generations. A health service that belongs to us all — to those of all faiths, and of none; there when we need it, at some of the most profound moments in our lives; the practical expression of a shared commitment by the British people, rooted in the idea that every person is of equal worth."
NHS Long Term Plan
On 7 January 2019 Prime Minister
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
and Stevens jointly launched the
NHS Long Term Plan
The NHS Long Term Plan, also known as the NHS 10-Year Plan is a document published by NHS England on 7 January 2019, which sets out its priorities for healthcare over the next 10 years and shows how the NHS funding settlement will be used. It was p ...
, co-authored in conjunction with patient groups and NHS clinicians. It set out how the NHS will use its extra funding to redesign care and improve outcomes over the decade ahead. Prime Minister May spoke at the launch giving government backing to the plan.
In drawing up the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England was also asked by the cross-party House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, and by the Prime Minister, to make recommendations on possible changes to health legislation. Stevens came forward with proposals to substantially amend the government’s previous
2012 legislation. A wide range of stakeholders called for an NHS Long Term Plan including the Age UK, Macmillan Cancer, the British Red Cross, RCN, Unison, the Medical Royal Colleges, the Kings Fund, NHS Providers, the NHS Confederation, the Local Government Association, Alzheimers Society, British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, the Stroke Association and the Patients Association. This letter specifically called for the removal of Section 75 of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. The new government of Boris Johnson announced in the Queens Speech of 14 October 2019 that it would back the Long Term Plan, legislate for the £20.5 billion real terms funding increase, and introduce legislation to give effect to the NHS's recommended legal changes. Stevens proposed - and NHS England then established - an 'NHS Assembly' to help steer implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan. It comprises a diverse range of stakeholders including national and local patients' groups, NHS staff and clinical experts.
NHS response to COVID-19
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was reported to have put Stevens personally and the NHS generally ( as against the private sector or the Department of Health and Social Care) in charge of designing and managing the
national COVID-19 vaccination rollout. NHS planning began in summer 2020 for what Stevens described as "the biggest vaccination campaign in our history... and a decisive turning point". The NHS was the first health system in the world to administer the
Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine, on 8 December 2020, and then the
Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine on 4 January 2021, which he described as "a major milestone in humanity's battle against coronavirus". By mid-January 2021 Stevens reported that people in England were being vaccinated four times faster than new COVID cases were occurring. By mid-February the NHS was delivering "Europe's fastest and largest COVID vaccination programme" and he said that vaccine uptake was far higher than had been envisaged, with over nine out ten people accepting the invitation. He stated that improved vaccine supply for the second phase of the NHS vaccination campaign from mid-February to April 2021 would allow the NHS to further double the speed of vaccinations. The target of offering vaccination to all adults by the end of July 2021 was delivered a month early.
Stevens also told MPs in January 2021 that COVID-19 could become a "much more treatable disease" over the next six to 18 months, raising the hope of returning to a "much more normal future". He praised NHS staff and researchers for developing new COVID therapies, which may have saved an estimated one million lives worldwide. He also allocated funding to establish the first NHS
long COVID
Long COVID or long-haul COVID (also known as post-COVID-19 syndrome, post-COVID-19 condition, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), or chronic COVID syndrome (CCS)) is a condition characterized by long-term health problems persisting or appe ...
clinics.
During both the spring 2020 and winter 2020–21 waves of COVID he expressed concern about the slogan "Protect the NHS", arguing that the NHS was there to protect patients, and the slogan could put people off coming forward for care. He said that "Rather than say 'Protect the NHS', health service staff prefer to say: 'Help us help you.' Keeping coronavirus under control means we avoid displacing other treatments which our nurses, doctor and therapists desperately want to sustain."
On 4 November 2020 Stevens put the NHS back on its highest level of emergency preparedness, which was maintained until 25 March 2021. During this period he appeared at a number of televised 10 Downing Street COVID press conferences alongside the Prime Minister - on 5 November, 2 December, 7 January (at which he accused 'COVID deniers' of lying), 26 January, and 15 February 2021 (where he reported the NHS had successfully met its target of offering all high risk patients their first vaccination).
By late December 2020 he stated the NHS was back in the "eye of the storm". In mid-January 2021 he told ''The Andrew Marr Show'': "The facts are very clear and I'm not going to sugar-coat them: hospitals are under extreme pressure and staff are under extreme pressure. Since Christmas Day we've seen another 15,000 increase in inpatients in hospitals across England. Every 30 seconds across England another patient is being admitted to hospital with coronavirus." At the Downing Street press conference on 26 January 2021, according to political commentator Paul Waugh, "When NHS chief Simon Stevens was asked whether there was too much household mixing in December... he was admirably frank: 'The facts as we see it in the health service are that on Christmas Day we had 18,000 coronavirus positive patients, and now we've got just under 33,000.'"
In January 2021 he marked the anniversary of the first COVID patients being treated by the NHS in Newcastle, and in March 2021 the NHS joined the national day of reflection. He has described the health service's response to the pandemic as "The NHS at its most agile and committed best." Responding to the proposal that NHS staff should only get a 1% pay rise after the pandemic, Stevens appeared to disagree, stating that the NHS had instead been budgeting for a higher figure, and he argued that the independent pay review bodies should be able to make their recommendations "without fear or favour".
He gave the address at the national service of commemoration and thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on 5 July 2021, coinciding with the award of the
George Cross
The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...
to the National Health Service by Her Majesty the Queen.
Prevention and public health
Stevens has drawn attention to online sources of misinformation about
vaccine safety. He has noted that "although nine in ten parents say they support vaccination half of them say that they have seen fake messages around vaccination on social media," and "if parents are being told that their children shouldn’t be vaccinated, it’s as irresponsible as saying 'don’t tell your children to look both ways before they cross the road on the way to school". He called on social media sites to take action against misleading and untrue health claims. Both Instagram and Facebook subsequently agreed to do so. He has also spoken out against a "pandemic of disinformation" affecting uptake of covid vaccination in some communities and some countries.
Stevens argues that "
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
is the new smoking" and has pushed for greater NHS, family, business and government action to tackle it. He initiated NHS England's work with local authorities and developers to 'design in' health promoting built environments, and launched the obesity-reducing NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and later backed its national expansion. He has championed NHS work to cut sugary drinks and junk food from hospitals, and suggested there should be a national
sugar tax. In March 2016 Chancellor
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...
announced a tax on sugary drinks.
On
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
and on environmental health threats he told the Royal Society of Medicine that "We have over 2,000 GP surgeries and hospitals located in zones with poisonous air
ndPublic Health England estimates
ir pollution will lead toabout 2.4 million cases of avoidable illness between now and 2035." For these reasons Stevens argues that: "The
climate emergency is a health emergency, and we, the NHS, as the single biggest organisation across this country are both part of the solution and part of the problem. We are 40% of public sector emissions, and although we have reduced our carbon footprint by around a fifth over the past decade, we've got to make major changes if we're going to help this country become carbon net neutral."
In 2020 Stevens appointed an expert panel to develop a route map to decarbonise the health sector, and the NHS subsequently pledged to become the world's first healthcare system to cut carbon emissions to
net zero
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...
. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
, welcomed the NHS's global leadership in doing so.
In response to rising knife crime, Stevens appointed trauma surgeon Martin Griffith to lead the NHS' work on violence reduction, educating children about the consequences of stabbings, alongside youth workers helping victims of gang crime while they are still being treated in hospital to help break the cycle of violence. He has pointed to the growing problem of
gambling addiction
Problem gambling or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to ''DSM-5'' if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is ...
s, and the predominance of sports-related gambling promotions. The NHS has opened new specialist clinics which Stevens argued the industry should contribute to funding. Shortly after Stevens' criticism, the six largest gambling companies announced a tenfold increase in their industry contributions to services for people affected by gambling.
Stevens has argued that the NHS – as the largest employer in Britain – is an 'anchor institution' in many local communities, and so needs to "get more creative in developing staffing and clinical models that will enable us to sustain services and consider second and third order effects in terms of jobs and economic impact and social cohesion".
House of Lords
On 29 April 2021, the Queen signified her intention of conferring a
Life peerage
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...
upon Sir Simon
He was created Baron Stevens of Birmingham, of Richmond upon Thames, on 5 July 2021 and introduced to the House of Lords as an independent
crossbencher
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
on 6 July 2021. Due to Covid restrictions, his in-person knighthood Investiture by Prince Charles took place on 14 July 2021 after he had already become a member of the House of Lords - the first time this has occurred since the reign of Henry VIII. He made his maiden speech in the Lords on 7 December 2021.
Stevens first intervention in the House of Lords was to call for amendments to the
Health and Care Bill 2021
The Health and Care Act is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which is intended to dismantle many of the structures established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Many of the proposals were drafted under the leadership of Sim ...
. He spoke in favour of greater transparency in the letting of contracts to the private sector and a curb on the powers the bill gives to the health secretary and for strengthening provisions for social care and mental health. He also proposed amendments to the Bill which would force the health secretary and each integrated care board to state each year whether mental health spending was increasing as a share of overall funding, and by how much. He joined with
Andrew Lansley
Andrew David Lansley, Baron Lansley, (born 11 December 1956) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who previously served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Secretary of State for Health and Leader of the H ...
and
Baroness Thornton in an amendment which would remove the clause which allows the health secretary to intervene in local service reconfigurations.
Honours and awards
Stevens is an Honorary Fellow of
Balliol College, University of Oxford, of the
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...
, and of the
Royal College of General Practitioners
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is the professional body for general (medical) practitioners (GPs/ Family Physicians/ Primary Care Physicians) in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including ...
. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
.
Stevens was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in the
2020 New Year Honours for services to Health and the NHS. The official citation said "Labour, Coalition and Conservative administrations have all turned to him to fundamentally shape the Health Service's strategic direction for the better."
References
External links
NHS Graduate Management Training SchemeFive Year Forward View for mental healthIntegrated Care SystemsNHS Long Term Plan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Simon
1966 births
Living people
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of Strathclyde
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
Chief Executives of the National Health Service
Labour Party (UK) councillors
Councillors in the London Borough of Lambeth
British special advisers
Presidents of the Oxford Union
English healthcare chief executives
Knights Bachelor
People educated at St. Bartholomew's School
Life peers created by Elizabeth II