Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England, today welcomed changes heralding an era of much greater alignment across the national bodies as set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View. He said: “The appointment of NHS England’s Vice Chairman Ed Smith as the new Chair of Monitor/TDA, alongside a globally respected clinician of Ara Darzi’s standing are both hugely welcome. This sets the stage for much greater alignment between the commissioning and system leadership work of NHS England and the new improvement and oversight function for NHS provider trusts. The Forward View argued the need for strategic coherence in the national leadership of the NHS, and today’s moves are another step towards that, with further steps to come.”

Responding to the announcement of Chief Nursing Officer Jane Cummings said “To be successful, patient safety and decisions about safe staffing need to be owned by everyone and led by frontline health professionals, so aligning national patient safety staff with the new NHS trust provider improvement function makes great sense and is something we have advocated for.”