58 Facts About Simon Stevens

Simon Laurence Stevens, Lord Stevens of Birmingham was born on 4 August 1966 and is Chair of the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Chair of Cancer Research UK, Chair of King's College London, and an independent member of the House of Lords.

Simon Stevens was born in Birmingham, England, the son of a Baptist minister and a university administrator.

Simon Stevens was educated at a state comprehensive, St Bartholomew's School in Newbury, Berkshire, and won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he was elected president of the Oxford Union.

Simon Stevens later received an MBA from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and was a Harkness Fellow at Columbia University, New York.

Simon Stevens's wife, Maggie, is a public health specialist from New York City.

Simon Stevens regularly competes in offshore yacht races such as the Rolex Sydney-Hobart and the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Simon Stevens started his NHS career on the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme at Shotley Bridge General Hospital, the largest employer in Consett, County Durham, after the closure of the steel works.

Simon Stevens was then appointed group manager of Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London before moving to New York City Health Department.

Simon Stevens served as a senior government policy adviser for seven years from 1997 to 2004: first to successive Secretaries of State for Health at the UK Department of Health, and then as senior policy adviser in the Number 10 Policy Unit to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Simon Stevens was closely associated with the development of the NHS Plan 2000.

From 2004 to 2014, Sir Simon Stevens was a senior executive at UnitedHealth Group.

Simon Stevens was a director of Brazil's largest hospital group AMIL.

Simon Stevens is a member of the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Fund of New York and Chair of Cancer Research UK.

Simon Stevens was instrumental in establishing an academic institute to publish information about the costs of US health care.

Simon Stevens served on the boards of the Minnesota Historical Society; the Minnesota Opera; and the Medicare Rights Center, as well as the King's Fund and the Nuffield Trust.

Simon Stevens is a natural and persuasive leader who exudes quiet confidence.

Simon Stevens frequently gave evidence to the Public Accounts Committee, the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, and other Parliamentary committees.

Simon Stevens has used the statutory independence of NHS England to speak openly about NHS funding and reform.

Simon Stevens is regularly interviewed on the BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 4 News and The Today Programme, as well as The Andrew Marr Show.

Simon Stevens established a ring-fenced fund within NHS England for innovative new medicines, particularly for rare conditions.

Simon Stevens has actively promoted genomics, and cell and gene therapies on the NHS.

Simon Stevens announced that the NHS had become the first health service in Europe to negotiate approvals for newly licensed breakthrough CAR-T cancer therapies.

Simon Stevens accused Essential Pharma of "using the cover of coronavirus to try and price-gouge British taxpayers".

Simon Stevens added: "Anything that gives homeopathy a veneer of credibility risks chancers being able to con more people into parting with their hard-earned cash in return for bogus treatments which at best do nothing, and at worst can be potentially dangerous".

Simon Stevens later warned patients not to believe claims that homeopathic 'duck extract' was an effective covid treatment.

Simon Stevens was responsible for the Five Year Forward View produced by NHS England in October 2014 to achieve what Stevens labelled the "triple integration" of primary and specialist care, physical and mental health services, and NHS and social care.

Simon Stevens has argued that government pay freezes for NHS staff, made to achieve cost savings, threatened the NHS's ability to recruit and argued that NHS wages should keep pace with the private sector.

Simon Stevens has prioritised the modernisation of mental health and cancer care He subsequently introduced shorter waiting times standards for mental health services, directed that each year local mental health spending must rise faster than overall NHS funding growth, and then extended that commitment to primary care and community health funding.

Simon Stevens has however challenged the longstanding assumption that this will mean there is a need for fewer hospital beds.

Simon Stevens has suggested that social media companies might be asked to contribute to funding improved mental health support for young people.

Simon Stevens has announced a dedicated confidential national mental health support service for NHS doctors, and 40 new mental health hubs for NHS staff affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Simon Stevens is a supporter of expanded university places for the health professions such as undergraduate medicine and nursing, which could meet the increased interest in these careers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Simon Stevens led the introduction of an NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard to track and improve the experience and fair treatment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff across the health service, and agreed to create and fund the NHS Race and Health Observatory.

Simon Stevens has pushed to give local communities more control over national budgets, including stronger 'Devo Manc' regional powers for Greater Manchester.

Simon Stevens has repeatedly argued for the importance of social care.

Simon Stevens's call was widely supported both inside the NHS and outside it, ranging from Brexit-supporting Jacob Rees-Mogg to the Remain-supporting general secretary of the TUC.

Simon Stevens led the NHS' 70th anniversary celebrations, including giving the address on 5 July 2018 in the national service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey and writing jointly with the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote on the 72nd anniversary of the NHS in July 2020.

On 7 January 2019 Prime Minister Theresa May and Simon Stevens jointly launched the NHS Long Term Plan, co-authored in conjunction with patient groups and NHS clinicians.

Simon Stevens came forward with proposals to substantially amend the government's previous 2012 legislation.

Simon Stevens proposed - and NHS England then established - an 'NHS Assembly' to help steer implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan.

Simon Stevens stated that improved vaccine supply for the second phase of the NHS vaccination campaign from mid-February to April 2021 would allow the NHS to further double the speed of vaccinations.

Simon Stevens told MPs in January 2021 that COVID-19 could become a "much more treatable disease" over the next six to 18 months, raising the hope of returning to a "much more normal future".

Simon Stevens allocated funding to establish the first NHS long COVID clinics.

On 4 November 2020 Simon Stevens put the NHS back on its highest level of emergency preparedness, which was maintained until 25 March 2021.

Simon Stevens gave the address at the national service of commemoration and thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on 5 July 2021, coinciding with the award of the George Cross to the National Health Service by Her Majesty the Queen.

Simon Stevens has drawn attention to online sources of misinformation about vaccine safety.

Simon Stevens has noted that "although nine in ten parents say they support vaccination half of them say that they have seen fake messages around vaccination on social media," and "if parents are being told that their children shouldn't be vaccinated, it's as irresponsible as saying 'don't tell your children to look both ways before they cross the road on the way to school".

Simon Stevens called on social media sites to take action against misleading and untrue health claims.

Simon Stevens has spoken out against a "pandemic of disinformation" affecting uptake of covid vaccination in some communities and some countries.

Simon Stevens argues that "obesity is the new smoking" and has pushed for greater NHS, family, business and government action to tackle it.

Simon Stevens initiated NHS England's work with local authorities and developers to 'design in' health promoting built environments, and launched the obesity-reducing NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and later backed its national expansion.

Simon Stevens has championed NHS work to cut sugary drinks and junk food from hospitals, and suggested there should be a national sugar tax.

Simon Stevens is an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford, of the Royal College of Physicians, and of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Simon Stevens has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of Birmingham.

On 29 April 2021 it was announced that Simon Stevens would receive a life peerage.

Simon Stevens became Lord Stevens of Birmingham, of Richmond upon Thames, on 5 July 2021.

Simon Stevens was introduced to the House of Lords on 6 July 2021 where he sits as an independent crossbencher.

Simon Stevens made his maiden speech in the Lords on 7 December 2021.