Chair and Chief executive
Joanne Shaw, Chair
Joanne was appointed as Chair of NHS Direct in January 2010 – a role which she will hold for the next four years. She has been acting Chair of NHS Direct since August 2008, providing leadership to the Board.
As Chair, Joanne will ensure that NHS Direct continues to lead the development of remote and digital health services to support users and the wider NHS.
Joanne is also Chair of Datapharm Communications, which provides digital medicines information to the NHS, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public.
She is a director of the British Board of Film Classification and has recently joined the Board of the Consumer Financial Education Body. Until August 2008, she was a Trustee for the Long-term Conditions Alliance and chaired the not-for-profit company behind 'Ask About Medicines': the independent campaign to increase people's involvement in decisions about their use of medicines.
Joanne's principal interests are partnerships between patients and health professionals and use of new communication channels for health and medicines.
After serving on the management board of the Audit Commission, she became Director of Medicines Partnership, a Department of Health initiative to improve the use of medicines in the NHS. She previously worked internationally as a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.
Nick Chapman, Chief executive
Nick was appointed the Chief executive of NHS Direct from 1 April 2009.
Before joining NHS Direct he was the Department of Health's (DH) National Director for the 18-week target. He was also responsible within the National Programme for IT as SRO for the Choose and Book and PACS programmes.
He joined the DH on secondment from the NHS in 2005 to work on reducing cancer waits, elective waiting times, and in the implementation of patient choice and booking.
Nick has practical experience leading and managing NHS organisations and of delivering and sustaining low waiting times.
He joined the NHS in 1979 as a National Trainee in the South East. After a variety of administrative and managerial posts, he became Unit General Manager for Lewisham Hospital in 1987.
He moved to Dorset in 1991 and spent the next 14 years as a trust Chief executive, first in West Dorset and then in Taunton, Somerset.
