Ex-hospital chief confirmed as head of DHSC

Samantha Jones, currently a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care, will replace Sir Chris Wormald as permanent secretary, it announced today – confirming an HSJ exclusive from earlier this month.

The permanent secretary is the most senior civil servant in DHSC, responsible for the day-to-day management of the department and acting as principal adviser to the health and social care secretary.

An early task for Ms Jones will be to draw up a new central structure as NHS England’s functions are returned to the department. This will include appointing to a newly created role of DHSC chief operating officer, the government announced.

In a statement, Ms Jones said: “It is an absolute privilege… I look forward to leading a department of committed public servants to improve the health of our nation.”

Ms Jones led Boris Johnson’s Office of the Prime Minister in early 2022 in the wake of the partygate scandal, having previously been Mr Johnson’s senior adviser on social care and NHS reform.

Prior to this, Ms Jones served at NHSE as director of new care models under Sir Simon Stevens, and she was previously chief executive of West Hertfordshire and Epsom and St Helier Hospitals Trusts. She began her career as an NHS nurse, and has also worked as CEO of Operose Health, a large privately-owned chain of NHS GP practices.

After Mr Johnson left number 10, she was appointed lead non-executive of the DHSC in 2023 by Conservative health and social care secretary Steve Barclay, and worked closely with him. She was replaced in this role by Alan Milburn after the change of government, but remained an NED.

Ms Jones has also been working as chief operating officer of Xlinks, a renewable energy company, and last year joined the advisory board of digital care firm Cera.

Her predecessor Sir Chris served as DHSC’s permanent secretary from 2016 until he was appointed as the prime minister’s cabinet secretary in December.

He said: “This is a critical time for DHSC, as they look to welcome their NHS England colleagues back into the department, and work to deliver the government missions and Plan for Change. Samantha is uniquely positioned to drive forward this work, and I look forward to working with her.”

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting added: “Samantha brings a wealth of experience from the frontline of healthcare as a general and paediatric nurse – she knows what it is like to be working on wards and will translate that expertise to her work across the department.

“Equally, her work in senior management roles across both Whitehall and the health and social care sector will prove invaluable as we reintegrate NHS England back into the department to cut red tape, reduce duplication, and make it fit for the future as part of our Plan for Change.”