New Imperial chief announced

She is currently head of St Vincent’s Health, Australia’s largest hospital group, and will take up her new post in April.

She replaces an unusual arrangement where three people were co-chief executives: chair Sir Richard Sykes, finance director Bill Shields and medical director Nick Cheshire.

The triumvirate had run Imperial since former chief executive Mark Davies was pushed out at the end of 2013

Dr Batten currently leads the £1bn-turnover St Vincent’s and before that ran dental services for the state of Victoria.

She completed part of her training at Barts and was a senior house officer at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

She has a masters in health administration from the University of New South Wales and a MBA from Harvard.

Sir Richard said: “I am very pleased that we are now able to announce the appointment of Tracey Batten.  We conducted an exhaustive, global search for our new chief executive and in Tracey I am certain we have found the kind of aspirational and inspirational leader we were looking for. 

“She has a strong record of clinical and managerial leadership and the organisational transformation she achieved at St Vincent’s Health was particularly impressive. 

“I have always felt that clinicians should be closely involved in the management and leadership of NHS trusts but the best clinical leadership comes from those with both clinical and managerial skills and experience. Tracey Batten is such a leader.”

Dr Batten said in a statement: “The prospect of leading one of England’s largest and most prestigious NHS trusts is both an honour and an exciting challenge. I hope to bring fresh ideas from another public health system and to help Imperial College Healthcare Trust complete its journey towards foundation trust status. 

“I am deeply committed to ensuring not only the very best clinical outcomes for patients but that their wider experience of the healthcare system is the very best too.  I look forward to meeting my new colleagues and our many patients in the near future.”