The man who was charged with overseeing the NHS’ response to Brexit and then to the coronavirus pandemic has been awarded a knighthood in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Professor Keith Willett, a distinguished trauma surgeon, was among the first senior appointees to the NHS Commissioning Board (now NHS England) in 2012. He was made responsible for acute and emergency care reforms.
In January 2019, Professor Willet was made joint leader of the NHS unit preparing for a no-deal Brexit.
Much of the NHSE chief’s work involved ensuring that supply chains would survive the break with the EU, so when the pandemic took off in early spring last year, Professor Willett was well placed to be appointed the service’s strategic incident director for the emergency.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s chief commercial officer Stephen Oldfield was made a ‘companion of the Order of Bath’ also for his work on Brexit and covid — he had a leading role on procurement, including of personal protective equipment, and oversees NHS Supply Chain, areas which came under major strain in the first wave in spring 2020.
The DSHC’s emergency response and health protection director Emma Reed received a CBE for her efforts during the pandemic.
Others from the NHS and health policy world who also received honours, included Caroline (Carrie) MacEwen, former chair of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges, who was made a dame.
Those receiving CBEs included: Martin Griffiths, the NHS’ NHS clinical director for violence reduction and one of HSJ’s ‘50 most influential BAME figures’, Jonathan Sheffield, the former chief executive of the National Institute for Health Research and Mandie Sunderland, the former chief nurse at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust.
The full list of honours can be found here.
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