NICE announces the appointment of Dr Adrian Hayter as its new chief medical office
Dr Adrian Hayter joins NICE from the Royal College of General Practitioners bringing more than three decades of frontline clinical and national leadership experience to the role.
NICE today announced the appointment of Dr Adrian Hayter as its new chief medical officer, bolstering the institute’s clinical leadership, following the appointment of CEO Professor Jonathan Benger earlier this year.
Dr Hayter brings more than three decades of frontline clinical and national leadership experience to the role, spanning general practice, NHS commissioning and national clinical leadership.
A practising GP at Runnymede Medical Practice, Dr Hayter will next year celebrate 30 years as a GP Partner, reflecting his longstanding commitment to primary care.
I am honoured to be joining NICE as chief medical officer at such a critical time for health and care. As a GP, I rely on NICE guidance every day to make sure my patients receive the best evidence-based care, from prescribing decisions to managing long-term conditions.
Dr Hayter added: "I know first-hand how vital it is that NICE's guidance is not only independent, but developed in a way that allows clinicians to deliver the best possible care, and I am committed to ensuring NICE continues to play its full part in a health system that must keep evolving to meet the needs of patients and the public.
"My ambition is to ensure NICE continues to drive innovation into the hands of clinicians and commissioners, delivering real improvements in health outcomes while making the best use of the resources available to the NHS."
I am delighted to welcome Adrian to NICE as our new chief medical officer. His breadth of experience, combining clinical practice and national leadership, makes him exceptionally well placed to help us deliver on our ambitions.
Professor Benger added: “As NICE expands its role under the 10 Year Health Plan, our ability to deliver for patients will depend on the strength of our relationships with the royal colleges, professional bodies and our key system partners, including NHS England, the MHRA and the CQC.
“Adrian's ability to forge and sustain those relationships will be invaluable as we work together to get the best evidence-based care to patients fast, while ensuring value for the taxpayer."
Over the course of his career, Dr Hayter has held a series of significant leadership roles. He chaired the Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead Clinical Commissioning Group between 2013 and 2018, and in 2019 became the first GP to be appointed as National Clinical Director for Older People and Person-Centred Care by NHS England, a role he held throughout the Covid pandemic.
He is a visiting Professor of Gerontology at Singapore University of Social Science and is currently Medical Director for Clinical Policy at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), where he supported a network of GPs influencing the clinical policy agenda across the four nations.
As the NHS shifts towards neighbourhood-based, person-centred care, Dr Hayter's combination of clinical experience and strategic leadership makes him ideally placed to guide NICE through the next phase of its transformation.
From this month, NICE will extend its technology appraisal process, requiring the NHS to fund approved high‑impact healthtech that meets its most urgent needs. A new joint process with the MHRA will also accelerate patient access to medicines by up to six months.
Beyond technology, NICE will continually re‑evaluate clinical pathways on a rolling basis. This will identify where older treatments no longer offer good value, freeing up NHS budgets for new innovations and ensuring every pound delivers the greatest possible benefit to patients.