Joss Bigmore, formerly a managing director at Credit Suisse, has been appointed Group Chair for both Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This move aims to strengthen leadership continuity and deepen the collaboration between the two Surrey-based NHS trusts.
Bigmore has chaired Royal Surrey since March 2023 and also serves as convenor of the Surrey Heartlands provider collaborative. His new Group Chair role will see him chair both organisations, supporting closer partnership working while allowing them to maintain their individual boards and local governance structures. This arrangement formalises a strategic partnership that began with a group model in early 2025, which established a joint leadership structure and shared initiatives to improve care and efficiency across the north-west Surrey health system.
Trust leaders highlighted Bigmore's extensive experience in financial services and governance, including his background as a senior banker, as crucial for navigating the current challenges faced by acute providers, such as workforce pressures, financial constraints, and rising patient demand. His expertise is seen as valuable in guiding the partnership through this demanding period. The trusts stated that the Group Chair appointment is a key step in strengthening leadership continuity and enhancing collaboration where it benefits patients, staff, and services, without undermining local decision-making. The role is also intended to provide stability as the partnership explores broader integration opportunities.
This appointment aligns with a growing trend within the NHS towards joint governance and strategic alignment between acute providers, which is increasingly essential for improving continuity of care and operational resilience within the framework of integrated care boards (ICBs) and provider collaboratives. The role is designed to create leadership capacity at system level for strategic oversight without compromising local autonomy.
Crucially, Bigmore’s role will not replace or override the individual boards; instead, his focus will be on facilitating partnership working, strengthening continuity of strategic leadership, and supporting shared improvement across both trusts.
