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
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