We are pleased to announce the appointment of Rhys Blake as our new Director of Corporate and Development.
With over 25 years of senior management experience in the NHS, most recently as Associate Director for Planned Care with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in Wales, Rhys will be a senior leadership team member and will oversee delivery of corporate and organisational development functions.
This includes corporate governance, coordination of the partnership board, HR and recruitment, business development and workforce planning, finance and budgetary control, and communications.
Natasha Swinscoe, Chief Executive of Health Innovation West of England, said: “We are excited to welcome Rhys Blake to join our leadership team. Rhys brings with him a wealth of knowledge from his diverse experience across the NHS in Wales and England.”
Rhys Blake said: “I’m keen to get to know everyone and understand where I can help this fantastic team achieve even more. I hope to bring confident leadership, a sense of humour and hard work to an already successful team!”
Rhys has worked continuously in the NHS since his first role in 1998 after university, and his posts have covered finance, procurement, cancer services and primary care.
Most of his career has been spent in national or regional roles, and Rhys has been instrumental in the design and delivery of several national health programmes in Wales (newborn hearing, bowel and AAA screening), a major Trauma Network, a national diagnostics programme, as well as significant modernisation initiatives in breast and cervical cancer programmes.
Rhys then went on to support the establishment of the NHS Executive function, having spent several years supporting NHS Wales chief executives in the then NHS Wales Health Collaborative.
“I am passionate about developing the next generation of NHS leaders,” Rhy says, “and as well as being a registered mentor for new graduates with Aberystwyth University, I mentor a number of aspiring junior NHS staff.”
Rhys starts his new role with Health Innovation West of England on Tuesday 1 April 2025.
Health Innovation West of England is part of a national network of organisations established by NHS England in 2013 to support the spread and adoption of proven innovation in health and care services. Find out more about the national network here.
Health Innovation West of England brings together the local health service community, industry, higher education, research bodies, patients and the wider public to work in partnership to transform lives through healthcare innovation. Our geography covers Gloucestershire; Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire; and Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire. Find out more about us and who we work with here.
Posted on March 27, 2025
News you may like
Empowering patients and upskilling clinicians to tackle overprescribing
As the Health Innovation Network’s Polypharmacy: Getting the Balance Right programme – which we have led on behalf of the Network – draws to a close, a suite of new reports highlights its transformative impact on patient safety and clinical practice across England. The programme has successfully engaged with over 12,000 healthcare professionals to support…
Read more
Health Innovation Network publishes National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes 2024 -25 report
Last month, the Health Innovation Network published the National Patient Safety Improvement Programmes report for 2024-25, highlighting its impact and progress over the course of the year. The Programme supports the NHS Patient Safety Strategy’s aim for the NHS to continuously improve patient safety, and its ambition to save 1,000 extra lives and £100 million…
Read more
Launch of seven new innovation projects to drive earlier and faster cancer diagnosis
In partnership with the NHS Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire (SWAG) Cancer Alliance, we are launching seven pioneering innovation projects aimed at transforming cancer diagnosis across the region. Funded by the NHS SWAG Cancer Alliance as part of our joint Cancer Innovation Programme, we selected these projects through a competitive open call and are designed…
Read more
