New Chief Executive announced for Northampton General Hospital

Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust has announced the appointment of Heidi Smoult as its new Chief Executive.

Heidi is currently Deputy Chief Inspector at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where she is accountable for the effective regulation of the NHS and independent healthcare providers in the Central region.

Heidi has a wealth of health and care experience preceding this, beginning her career as a midwife before moving into operational roles in the acute sector.

Simon Weldon, Group Chief Executive at Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals, said: “I am delighted that Heidi is joining us in what is a fantastic appointment for NGH and for our Group.

"Heidi has extensive experience and knowledge of the health service and a granular understanding of quality improvement. Her appointment is absolutely key in the development of our hospital group model, implementing our dedicated to excellence strategy and providing inspiration and leadership to our teams at NGH.”

Heidi said: “I’m delighted to be joining Northampton General Hospital as Hospital Chief Executive and to being part of the Northampton and Kettering hospital group. My career has been driven by a passionate commitment to improving care for people.

“I’m particularly excited about leading and supporting the teams at Northampton General to achieve the group ambition, as they work with Kettering Hospital not only to deliver high quality care for their own patients, but to improve services across the whole county. This is a great opportunity to harness the power of collaboration to deliver improved care for the people of Northamptonshire and I’m really looking forward to helping to shape that process.”

Heidi takes over from Eileen Doyle who has been Interim Hospital Chief Executive at Northampton General Hospital since the beginning of March. Heidi will take up her new role in the summer.