BT Health boss to lead Oxford Radcliffe

Sir Jonathan Michael, managing director of BT Health, is to become the chief executive of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.

Sir Jonathan has been the head of BT Health since June 2007, with responsibility for the National Programme for IT in the NHS Spine and London local service provider contracts. 

He takes over the helm of Oxford Radcliffe, an internationally renowned hospital, as it is in the process of preparing to implement Cerner Millennium in 2010, supplied by BT.

Sir Jonathan will be replaced by Patrick O’Connell, who will resume the role of MD for BT Health as part of his role as BT’s president of Major Programme Practice. O’Connell was MD of BT Health up until June 2007.

Immediately prior to joining BT in 2007, on a two year contract, Sir Jonathan was chief executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. He held the the post from 2000 and led the organisation to become a first wave foundation trust.

Sir Jonathan had an illustrious medical career as a consultant physician and nephrologist. After moving into healthcare management in the 1990s, he was appointed clinical director, then medical director and finally chief executive of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust.

Sir Jonathan said: "I am delighted to have been appointed to the role of CEO of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, and look forward to working with all my future colleagues in the trust, the wider NHS and local universities to ensure that it provides the highest quality of care for patients, and plays its proper part in delivery of excellent education, training and research in the field of healthcare."

Welcoming Sir Jonathan’s appointment, Dame Fiona Caldicott, chairman of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said: "I am thrilled to welcome Sir Jonathan’s appointment as CEO.”

Dame Fiona added: “His enormous range of skills and experience will be a huge asset to the trust, not only as we meet immediate challenges, but also in progressing to become a clinically-led organisation, and develop our full potential as a centre of excellence for clinical care, teaching and research, delivering the very best treatment for patients."

Among the other posts he has held, Sir Jonathan has been chair of the NHS Confederation’s Foundation Trust Network. In 2007, he was appointed by the health secretary to chair an independent inquiry into access to healthcare for children and adults with learning disabilities, which was published in 2008.

Sir Jonathan was knighted in the New Year’s Honours in 2005 for services to the NHS. He will take up his new post at the Oxford Radcliffe early in the new financial year.