Mark Britnell

Mark Douglas Britnell (born 5 January 1966)^[1] is considered a leading expert on healthcare systems and has worked extensively with organizations around the world. ^[2]

He is a professor at the Global Business School for Health at UCL^[3] and Adjunct Professor at the Sandra Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. ^[4]

He has also written two books, 'In Search of the Perfect Health System' (Palgrave Macmillan)^[5] and 'Human: solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare' (Oxford University Press).^[6]

In September 2024 he became Chair of Health Innovation Manchester.^[7]

He was a senior partner at the professional services firm KPMG and is a global healthcare expert. He was the chairman and senior partner for healthcare, government and infrastructure at KPMG International until September 2020.^[8] He was then appointed as Vice-Chairman of KPMG UK with a focus on healthcare, a role he held until December 2022.^[9]

Prior to working for KPMG he worked in a number of roles for the NHS including as director-general at the Department of Health and a member of the management board of the National Health Service (NHS) in England (July 2007–September 2009), as well as chief executive of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the South Central Strategic Health Authority.

In 2021 Britnell along with Tom Riordan was shortlisted for the role of NHS England Chief Executive, before the role being awarded to Amanda Pritchard.^[10]

Britnell grew up in Chester where he attended the local comprehensive.^[11] Having studied history at the University of Warwick, he joined the fast-track NHS Management Training Scheme in 1989, receiving his post-graduate education at Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick.^[12]

His early career included various management posts in the NHS, a spell with the Australian health service, a year in the civil service fast stream during which he was sponsored by the Australian College of Health Service Executives to work in Melbourne and Sydney before being seconded to the NHS Executive in 1992. Britnell joined St Mary's Hospital in London as a General Manager before being appointed as a Director at Central Middlesex Hospital (now part of North West London Hospitals NHS Trust) in 1995, when he was named Project Director for an Ambulatory Care and Diagnostic (ACAD) Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme - the first of its kind in the UK.^[13] He became chief executive at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.^[12] having been chief operating officer there, and led the organization from 1998 to 2006. It became an NHS Foundation Trust in the so-called 'first wave', and a PFI hospital rebuild, including a Royal Centre for Defence Medicine in partnership with the Ministry of Defence.^[14] In 2006 he was appointed as chief executive of the NHS South Central strategic health authority (covering the area from Oxford to the Isle of Wight). He was Director-General for Commissioning and System Management for the National Health Service (NHS) of England (July 2007-September 2009).^[15] During this time he oversaw the development of the World Class Commissioning policy, the creation of the Cooperation and Competition Panel and reforms to primary care, patient and public engagement, integrated care and community services.^[16]

In 2009, he joined KPMG as head of health for the UK and Europe,^[17] becoming global chairman for health in 2010 and global chairman and senior partner for healthcare, government and infrastructure in 2018.^[18] He reports that in these roles he has travelled to 80 countries^[19] He was a senior partner at the professional services firm KPMG and is a global healthcare expert. He finished these roles in September 2020. He was then appointed as Vice-Chairman of KPMG UK with a focus on healthcare, a role he held until December 2022.^[20]

In 2021 Britnell along with Tom Riordan was shortlisted for the role of NHS Chief Executive, before the role being awarded to Amanda Pritchard.[9] Other candidates that were ruled out earlier in the process included Conservative peer Baroness Dido Harding and Sir James Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust. ^[21][22]

In 2023 Britnell became a Professor at the Global Business School for Health at UCL ^[23] and an Adjunct Professor at the Sandra Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.^[24]

In 2024 Britnell became Chair of Health Innovation Manchester.^[25]

In October 2015, Britnell published 'In Search of the Perfect Health System',^[26] an analysis of 25 national health systems around the world and seven key trends facing healthcare globally. It won the health and social care category in the British Medical Association's Medical Book Awards 2016 and Best Health Book in China in 2017 from the Chinese Medical Doctors Association.^[27] The book is published in Mandarin, Portuguese and Korean, and sold in 109 countries.^[28] In March 2019 he published 'Human: solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare'.^[29] It is a response to the warning from the World Health Organization that by 2030 there will be a global shortage of around 18 million healthcare workers – about a fifth of the required workforce.^[30] Royalties of his books are said to go to the charity Prostate Cancer UK.^[31]

Via KPMG he was a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Health Sector for four years.^[32] He is a Trustee of the King's Fund.^[33] He has honorary degrees from Birmingham City University and University of Wolverhampton, and an honorary professorship at Taishan Medical University School in China.^[34] He also sits on the advisory board of the China Center for Health Development at Peking University. He was a Trustee of the cancer charity Prostate Cancer UK, having been diagnosed and treated for the disease in 2008. He has often praised the NHS for saving his life.^[35]

In 2010, while describing British health reforms to an audience of global healthcare executives in the US, Britnell said:

"In future, The NHS will be a state insurance provider not a state deliverer", and that "The NHS will be shown no mercy and the best time to take advantage of this will be in the next couple of years."^[12]

KPMG issued a press statement on behalf of Britnell on 16 May 2011 which refuted the accuracy of the quotations stating

"The article in The Observer attributes quotes to me that do not properly reflect discussions held at a private conference last October. Nor was I given the opportunity to respond ahead of publication. I worked in the NHS for twenty years and now work alongside it. I have always been a passionate advocate of the NHS and believe that it has a great future. Like many other countries throughout the world, the pressure facing healthcare funding and provision are enormous. If the NHS is to change and modernise the public, private and voluntary sectors will all need to play their part." ^[36]

The Health Service Journal website published a longer statement from Britnell on 17 May.^[37] Commenting on the UK health service in an article for the Guardian Health Network, Britnell said "I'm proud to have worked for the NHS, with its great people, and now feel privileged to be able to work on health systems internationally."^[38]

• In Search of the Perfect Health System, Palgrave 2015 ISBN 978-1-137-49661-4
• Human: Solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare, Oxford University Press 2019 ISBN 978-0-198-83652-0

• The Kings Fund Board of Trustees
• Profile: Dr Mark Britnell, Global Head of Health, KPMG
• Mark Britnell at the Department of Health, 11 March 2008 (archived)