Department of Health finance chief to retire

The DH announced the retirement today and said Mr Douglas will be replaced by David Williams, who has been director general of finance at the Ministry of Defence since 2012.

The change will come at a pivotal time, with negotiations due to take place on future departmental funding as part of a new government’s spending review, to be completed late this year.

Mr Douglas has been a DH director general since 2001, and is the longest standing director general for finance in central government. He is also leader of the finance profession across government.

His experience and grasp of NHS finance and other NHS matters is highly respected by many senior figures, despite the service’s current financial difficulties. His influence saw him placed ninth in the 2014 HSJ100 list - the highest ranked DH civil servant.

Mr Douglas’ departure also comes at a time of very high financial stress for the NHS and DH. Many NHS organisations are recording higher budget deficits than expected, while the DH has during 2014-15 had to win agreement from the Treasury for large in-year increases to its revenue budget.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement: “Richard is retiring at the end of a highly distinguished career in the civil service, having run the biggest discretionary budget of any government department with not only skill and judgment but also a decency that has made him trusted on all sides.

“He is both the longest serving director general for finance in Whitehall and the youngest person ever to hold that post, which speaks volumes… Richard will be sorely missed.”

Mr Douglas said: “I have had a fantastic time in this job and loved every minute of it. It has given me the opportunity to work with great people from the civil service, the NHS and politics and hopefully make some small, positive difference to a service that I believe in passionately. The election marks a natural break and I plan to hang up the spreadsheets and do something completely different.”

Mr Williams, as well as working in several senior roles at the Ministry of Defence, has previously been a non-executive director and then director of corporate governance at an acute trust in Essex, the DH said. He will join the DH on 16 March and take on responsibility for its two finance divisions and its commercial division from 1 April.

DH permanent secretary Una O’Brien said: “I am delighted that a civil servant of David’s calibre and experience is coming to the department. We are very fortunate to have such a highly respected financial strategist joining our executive team, with his experience of Whitehall, local government and the NHS.”

Mr Williams said: “I am really pleased to be joining the Department of Health. Richard will be a hard act to follow, but I look forward to engaging with new colleagues in the Department and wider health service on the challenges ahead.”