Salford NHS Chief appointed as Health Foundation Governor

27 January 2014

About 2 mins to read

Press release

The Health Foundation has appointed Sir David Dalton, the Chief Executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, as its new Governor. Sir David was knighted in the recent New Year Honours list for his services to the NHS, in particular his extraordinary achievement at transforming a once zero-rated hospital into one of the highest rated in the England.

Sir David has been an NHS Chief Executive for over 20 years, serving at Salford Royal for more than 12 years. He has a particular interest in quality improvement with a focus on improving patient safety and service reliability. He is leading a programme to achieve the lowest mortality rate in the NHS and to provide harm-free care for the patients of his Trust. He also served on the Berwick Review of Patient Safety which reported its recommendations to the Prime Minister in August last year.

Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, commented: 'I am thrilled that Sir David will be joining our team of Governors. He has a wealth of experience across the NHS and a reputation for achieving on quality improvement and patient safety, two areas at the heart of our organisation. The progress made at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust is impressive.'

Sir David comments: 'I am delighted to be taking up this responsibility for the Health Foundation at such a pivotal time for the organisation and the NHS. The Foundation is entering into a new phase, and expanding what it is doing, contributing to its mission of improving healthcare quality in the UK. I am excited to be joining the team that will help to influence the future shape of the charity.'

Sir David appointment to the Health Foundation’s Board comes as the charity expands into new areas of work in support of its core focus on improving healthcare quality in the UK. The first phase of this development is already underway as the Foundation begins to create three new in-house teams in policy analysis, economics and data analytics. The developments follow the appointment of Dr Jennifer Dixon to the role of Chief Executive of the Health Foundation in October of last year.