A former nurse and chief executive of a large health primary care provider has been appointed as the top civil servant at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Samantha Jones will take over from Sir Chris Wormald as the department’s new permanent secretary.
Ms Jones, who is no longer on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, began her career as a nurse and has worked across the NHS and private sector.
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She was previously chief executive of Operose Health, which the DHSC described as ‘one of the largest primary care providers in England.’
Operose, which is now owned by HCRG group, runs 60 GP practices across the UK across 16 integrated care board (ICB) areas.
It was previously a subsidiary of the US healthcare company Centene and received attention in 2021 after it took over 58 GP practices from previous owners AT Medics.
A councillor in one London area took his clinical commissioning group (CCG) to court over its approval of the takeover, but a High Court judge dismissed the case in 2022.
In recent years, North Central ICB decided to re-tender its APMS contracts with Operose for several GP practices due to concerns around overuse of non-GP staff, as well as a ‘serious breach’ when its owners enacted a ‘change of control’.
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Ms Jones said: ‘It is an absolute privilege to be appointed permanent secretary at DHSC, working with colleagues across health and social care to support the government’s Plan for Change and deliver a rebuilt NHS, fit for the future.’
Ms Jones has also worked previously at NHS England on the ‘new models of care programme’, and has been an advisor to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson on ‘NHS transformation’.
She is currently a non-executive director at DHSC as well as chief operating officer for the renewable energy company Xlinks.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said Ms Jones ‘brings a wealth of experience from the frontline of healthcare as a general and paediatric nurse’.
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‘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,’ he added.
A version of this article was first published on our sister title, Pulse.
