The NHS will get its first ever female boss, with departing chief executive Sir Simon Stevens’ deputy winning the top role.
Amanda Pritchard — currently the health service’s chief operating officer — will take over the reins next week.
Ms Pritchard, whose father is a bishop, has spent her entire 25-year career working in the NHS since graduating from Oxford University.
In securing the top role, she beat off competition from Dido Harding, the ex-head of No10’s Test and Trace scheme, as well as KPMG partner Mark Britnell.
Former Amazon UK boss Douglas Gurr and Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan were also in the running.
Sir Simon is stepping down after seven years at the helm, and will become a peer in the House of Lords.
Amanda Pritchard, left, will be the first women to head the NHS since it was created in 1948. Sir Simon Stevens, right, is stepping down after seven years in the top role to join the House of Lords
The daughter of a bishop who has spent 25 years working in the NHS: The health service’s new boss Amanda Pritchard
The daughter of a bishop, Amanda Pritchard grew up in Durham with her parents and sister.
Before embarking on a 25-year career in the NHS, she attended the Durham Johnston Comprehensive School, where she was a member of its debating club.
Ms Pritchard — who is married with three children — went to the University of Oxford and graduated with a degree in modern history.
After finishing university, she joined the NHS in 1997 through its graduate management training scheme.
She joined West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust as a management trainee to an associate doctor.
In 2002, she became a manager at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Ms Pritchard was then appointed as the health team leader of the Prime Minister’s delivery unit in 2005 under Labour’s Tony Blair.
After her brief year-long stint being an adviser for No10, she then returned to Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust as its chief executive.
In 2017, she told a university magazine: ‘I left university wanting to do something that made a difference and thanks to the people I’ve worked with, learned from and who continue to support me every day, I am in the extraordinarily privileged position to be able to do just that.’
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He was the eighth person to run NHS England since it was created in 1948.
In his resignation letter, he described being in charge of the NHS through ‘some of the toughest challenges in its history’ as a privilege.
Sir Simon — who has been in charge for seven years — has served through three elections and the Covid pandemic.
According to the NHS England annual report for 2019/20, the chief executive’s salary was between £195,000 and £200,000.
The report stated that Sir Simon had, during that year, voluntarily taken a £20,000 annual pay cut for the sixth year in a row.
Ms Pritchard, who grew up in Durham, will be taking on the role at a time of crisis for the health service, which is facing record waiting lists and rising Covid hospitalisations.
She has been chief operating officer of NHS England and NHS Improvement since July 2019.
In that role, she has been responsible for overseeing the health service’s performance and implementing improvements.
She previously studied modern history at the University of Oxford, before joining the NHS in 1997 through a graduate management training scheme.
Her father John Pritchard, a Church of England bishop, also studied at Oxford University.
By 2012, she was serving as chief executive at Guys’ and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, which is one of the largest providers of hospital services in the country, treating 2.4million patients a year with 15,000 member of staff.
Ms Pritchard will now be in charge of the NHS’s annual budget of almost £150billion and the service’s 1.3million staff.
Ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock backed Lady Dido for the role.
But Sajid Javid, who took over from Mr Hancock, ruled out the Tory peer last month.
Sir James Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, also did not make it through to the final rounds, according to the Health Service Journal.
The applicants were interviewed by representatives from No10, the Treasury and Cabinet Office, as well as board members from NHS England and its chair Lord David Prior.
Amanda Pritchard meets members of staff during a visit to University College Hospital London, following the announcement of her appointment as the new chief executive of the NHS in England
Ms Pritchard, whose father is a bishop, has spent her entire 25-year career working in the NHS since graduating from Oxford University
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said the NHS will ‘strongly welcome’ Ms Pritchard’s appointment.
He said: ‘Over the last two years, trust leaders have welcomed Amanda’s calm, team oriented, and effective national operational leadership of the NHS through one of the most challenging periods in its history.
‘She has a deep and strong connection with NHS frontline leaders and staff which will be much needed given the scale of the challenge ahead.
‘It is also particularly pleasing to see a female NHS chief executive appointed for the first time in the service’s 73-year history.’
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said Ms Pritchard will ‘hit the ground running’ when she takes up the role.
He said: ‘This role is arguably the most significant across the entire public sector and with a new Secretary of State getting up to speed, this continuity at the top of the NHS will be vital.’
WHO ELSE WAS IN THE RUNNING FOR THE TOP NHS JOB? 
Doug Gurr
Doug Gurr, who was global vice-president and head of Amazon UK from 2016 to 2020, was interviewed by Treasury officials for the NHS boss role earlier this month.
Since last year he has been the director of the Natural History Museum in London.
He is also a chairman of the British Heart Foundation and a non-executive director of the UK government’s Department for Work and Pensions.
The businessman and father-of-two, from Leeds, has also held positions in the civil service, McKinsey & Co and at ASDA, where he was a main board director.
Baroness Dido Harding
Dido Harding was in charge of the Government’s highly controversial £37billion NHS Test and Trace scheme.
She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford alongside David Cameron before having a long career in the private sector.
Baroness Harding — who has no frontline NHS managerial experience — was the boss of TalkTalk when four million of its customers lost their banking details.
Mark Britnell
Mark Britnell is chairman and partner of the global health practice at Big Four accounting firm KPMG.
In May, it was revealed he was ‘thinking very seriously’ about applying for the NHS chief executive role.
Mr Britnell was linked with the top job back in 2013, when Sir Simon Stevens took over, but said at the time he had not applied.
He studied history at the University of Warwick before joining the NHS management training scheme in 1989 – the same programme Amanda Pritchard went on to do.
Tom Riordan
Tom Riordan has been Leeds City Council’s chief executive since August 2010 and is the youngest person to ever hold the position.
He grew up in North Yorkshire and graduated from Oxford University in 1989 with a degree in modern history before joining the Whitehall fast-track scheme in 1990.
The Health Service Journal revealed last month that Mr Riordan had applied for the NHS head job.
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