New Chief Executive appointed for University Hospitals of Northamptonshire

Laura Churchward

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) are pleased to announce that Laura Churchward has been appointed as the new UHN Chief Executive and will join the organisation in Autumn 2024.

Laura will join UHN from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), where she has been the Director of Strategy for seven years. Her appointment follows a national recruitment process, and we are delighted Laura has chosen to join us.

The UHN Chief Executive will lead the organisation across its two hospitals on a day-to-day basis and work closely with Richard Mitchell, the Group Chief Executive of UHN and University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) to deliver improvements to patient care, employment, research, education, and finances.

Laura has worked in the NHS for over 20 years and in that time has amassed many notable achievements. At UCLH, she has been responsible for the build and commission of a major new ENT and Dental Hospital in 2019 and she led the development of the Grafton Way Building, which opened in 2021 and included the commission of a proton beam therapy service (one of two for NHS patients in the UK). She has extensive experience in service redesign, business case development and project management. Prior to moving into strategy in 2014, Laura held senior operational roles in the Trust, including the management of stand-alone sites. She is a Northamptonshire resident and has three primary-school aged children who were all born at UHN hospitals.

Richard Mitchell, Group Chief Executive of UHN and University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL), said: “I am absolutely delighted that Laura has chosen to join us. She clearly cares about people; has humility and is ambitious for what we will achieve at UHN. 

“I am confident we have made an excellent appointment and Laura will be great for the people of Northamptonshire. I am very much looking forward to working with her to build a brighter future for our hospitals.”

Laura, UHN Chief Executive, said: “Having lived in Northamptonshire for much of my life I am really proud to lead my two local hospitals. UHN services saved the lives of both of my twins and me, so I have experienced the incredible difference UHN’s teams make to the lives of local people every single day.

“Through my experiences as a patient and in the conversations, I had in preparation to apply for this role, I know we have talented people working incredibly hard to deliver safe and efficient services to local people every day. My job will be to enable our brilliant people to keep delivering these services and make sure we have a sustainable plan to meet the needs our local communities now and in the future.”

We look forward to welcoming Laura to Team UHN.