North West London Acute Provider Group leadership team update

Published: 19 August 2026

There have been two further appointments to leadership roles for the North West London Acute Provider Group, following competitive, internal recruitment processes. They are:

Group lead director of communications and engagement: Michelle Dixon

Michelle will continue as director of engagement and experience at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust while taking on additional responsibilities across the Group. Michelle joined the Trust in 2014 as director of communications, leading work to strengthen engagement with staff, patients and local communities, and has since also established a new insight and experience directorate.

Michelle will provide strategic leadership for communications and engagement across the Group. Alongside her substantive Trust role, she will lead the Group's engagement programme, help shape a clear and consistent narrative, and support the Group chief executive and wider executive team to build understanding, trust and momentum for the new group model among staff, patients, partners and local communities.

Michelle took up the appointment on 1 July 2026 for an initial fixed term of six months.

Group lead director of strategic partnerships: Professor Bob Klaber

Bob will continue as director of strategy, research and innovation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust while taking on additional responsibilities across the Group. Bob, who also works as a consultant paediatrician, first joined the Trust in 2009. He led the development of the Trust's improvement methodology and team, alongside expanding the Trust's research and innovation capabilities, including overseeing core partnerships with Imperial College London and establishing Paddington Life Sciences and the Trust's population health and health inequalities programmes.

Bob will provide strategic leadership for the Group's external partnerships, overseeing relationships with academic institutions, industry, NHS organisations, local authorities and community partners. He will continue with his complementary Trust responsibilities, except for the move of the improvement team into a combined transformation and improvement team within the chief operating officer's office.

Bob will take up his Group appointment on 1 September for an initial fixed term of three years.

About the North West London Acute Provider Group

The North West London Acute Provider Group was established on 1 April 2026 and is made up of the four acute NHS trusts in the sector: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare, London North West University Healthcare and The Hillingdon Hospitals. While remaining separate organisations with their own Trust-level chief executive and executive management team, the trusts have a shared 'single accountable officer' – known as the Group chief executive – and a shared chair as well as a board in common.

The external recruitment process to appoint a Group strategy and transformation director is nearing conclusion. This will complete the Group executive leadership team.