Jim Easton, director general improvement and efficiency, Department of Health
Jim has been an executive in the English NHS for more than 20 years. He has had leadership roles in hospital services, regional management, mental health, service commissioning and policy development.
Prior to this post he was chief executive of NHS South Central, responsible for all hospital, community, primary care and mental health services for five million people in the South of England. The strategic health authority had a reputation for strong delivery on national requirements and for its focus on quality improvement, safety and clinical leadership.
Before that Jim was the chief executive of York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital had a top-performing excellent rating in the national performance assessment, was independently assessed as a top 40 UK Hospital four years in a row and was a national Safer Patients Initiative pilot site.
Quality and safety improvement is the central driver of Jim’s leadership. He has been a board member of the NHS Modernisation Agency, a governor of the Health Foundation, and is a member of the NHS Leadership Council. He is the national sponsor for the work of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.
Dame Barbara Hakin, chief executive, NHS East Midlands
Prior to joining NHS East Midlands, Barbara was a PCT chief executive in Bradford for six years during which time she also held a broad range of national roles including interim director general of commissioning in the Department of Health and director of primary care in the Modernisation Agency. She was part of the team which developed the NHS Plan and a member of the Modernisation Board.
Before moving into a full-time career in management in 2000, Barbara was a GP in Bradford for more than twenty years.
Barbara is best known for her expertise in commissioning, in particular the radical redesign of services to move care into the community and primary care setting. As such she was instrumental in developing and expanding the role of primary care professionals thus creating the concept of GPs with Special Interests. She has also championed services to reduce inequalities and has been instrumental in promoting the equality and diversity agenda at both local and national level.
Barbara also leads on the negotiations for the GMS contract, a role she took over in 2006 at the end of the initial three year contract.
Barbara has recently been appointed as Programme Lead (Top Leaders) for the National Leadership Council. Barbara was awarded a DBE in 2009.
Kathy McLean, medical director, NHS East Midlands
Kathy qualified in medicine in 1983 and was a consultant physician at Derby Hospitals for 15 years. She was Medical Director there for 6 years before joining the SHA.
Kathy has been medical director at the strategic health authority since March 2009. Her role includes leading on Quality, Productivity and Innovation and she chairs the regional Clinical Cabinet. Kathy also chairs the National Negotiating Committee for Staff and Associate Specialists on behalf of NHS Employers.
Helen Bevan, chief of service transformation, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
Helen has worked in the field of healthcare improvement at local, national and international level for 19 years. She has led and supported initiatives that have created improvements for millions of patients. Her specialist interests are in large-scale change approaches to improvement and energising for change.
