Ben Morrin appointed as CEO from July
Ben will join the organisation in July, leading NHS Employers in its work to support workforce leaders and their teams across the NHS in England, helping to build a sustainable workforce, strengthening people leadership, and ensuring organisations are the very best employers they can be.
Ben is currently integration director at NHS England, where he led the coming together of the organisation with NHS Digital and Health Education England.
Previously, he was workforce director at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as well as deputy chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. While at UCLH, Ben led pioneering work on talent and succession management, helping the trust to become the first NHS employer to assure the London Living Wage and to introduce enhanced rights for parents and carers of premature babies.
He has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development since 2007 and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. In 2023, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hull in recognition of his services to the NHS.
Ben will succeed Dean Royles, who has been interim chief executive of NHS Employers since January 2026 and more substantially Danny Mortimer, who left NHS Employers to become the Director General for People working across the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England after 11 years in post.
Ben Morrin said:
“I am really looking forward to becoming the chief executive of NHS Employers and helping shape The NHS Alliance.
“NHS Employers has a fundamental role to inspire people leadership that will make the greatest difference for patients and communities. “At a time of growing pressure on colleagues across the NHS, it is vital that NHS Employers influences on the issues that matter and in partnership with trade unions.”
Sir Ciarán Devane, who will be chief executive of The NHS Alliance in April, said:
“Ben brings a wealth of experience of workforce leadership, large-scale integration and partnership working across the system. His practical track record of improving employment practice and championing staff rights is exactly what NHS Employers needs as it supports employers and workforce leaders through a very challenging period.
“I look forward to working closely with Ben as we continue delivering for the leaders and staff who run and work in our health service, and to playing an active role in shaping the future of The NHS Alliance.
“I would also like to thank Dean Royles for his steady leadership as interim chief executive and for ensuring continuity ahead of Ben taking up post in July.”
This appointment comes at an important moment for the wider NHS leadership community. The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers completed their legal merger earlier this year and from April 2026 will operate as a single membership organisation, The NHS Alliance.
