Surgeon named CEO of high-profile hospital

Site chief executives have been recruited for the Royal Free and Chase Farm hospitals, which are part of the Royal Free Group.

David Crampsey will be the Royal Free Hospital’s new chief executive from 30 October. He has been deputy CEO and medical director of Airedale FT since 2020 and is a trained ear nose and throat surgeon and consultant otolaryngologist.

Steve Spoerry has been interim in the role since March 2024.

Meanwhile, Palmer Winstanley will be CEO of Chase Farm Hospital and of the group’s shared clinical services, from 1 October.

He has been acting chief at Northampton General Hospital — also part of a hospital group — for the past year, and was previously its chief operating officer and deputy CEO. Before joining the NHS he served in the military.

Deborah Sanders, chief executive of Barnet Hospital, which is the third in the group, has been covering the Chase Farm role since last July.

The Royal Free, in Hampstead, has long been a high-profile hospital in north London and has built its influence over the past decade with the development of a hospital group.

Royal Free London group chief Peter Landstrom, appointed last year, said: “They both have a huge wealth of NHS experience and expertise and I look forward to working with them.”

A long-considered merger of the Royal Free with North Middlesex University Hospital Trust, whose CEO is Nnenna Osuji, is due to go ahead this autumn.