Prof Frankie SwordsRegulator

Biography

Professor Francesca (Frankie) Swords took up the post of National Medical Director on 1 June 2026, working across the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, becoming the most senior doctor in the NHS in England with responsibility for providing clinical leadership and future direction for health and social care at a national level. She has over 30 years' experience in the NHS, having previously served as Executive Medical Director at NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board (and predecessor ICBs in Norfolk and Waveney, and Suffolk and North East Essex) from July 2022. Alongside her ICB roles, she practised as a consultant physician and endocrinologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with sub-speciality interests in pituitary and adrenal endocrinology. She is an honorary professor at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, and earlier in her career was Medical Director at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, having trained in Oxford and London (BA Oxford 1992, MB BS London Hospital Medical College 1995, PhD Queen Mary University of London 2004). She has publicly championed high-quality, evidence-based and preventative care, and led improvements in older people's medicine, palliative care, diabetes prevention, and obesity pathways at ICB level.

References

1. 1.Professor Frankie Swords – GOV.UK — Confirms appointment as National Medical Director from 1 June 2026, career history including ICB roles and academic affiliations, and training background.
2. 2.UEA academic named as National Medical Director in the NHS in England – University of East Anglia — Confirms honorary professorship at Norwich Medical School, UEA, and appointment as National Medical Director.
3. 3.A message of thanks and reflection from Professor Frankie Swords – Norfolk & Suffolk ICB — Documents ICB achievements including diabetes prevention referrals, hypertension detection improvements, and SmartStart smoking reduction programme.
4. 4.Frankie Swords – Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust — Confirms clinical role as honorary consultant endocrinologist at NNUH, GMC number, sub-speciality (pituitary and adrenal endocrinology), and academic degrees including PhD from Queen Mary University of London 2004.

Expertise

Cited on

• Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

• Clinical leadership and governance
• Prevention and population health
• Endocrinology and long-term conditions
• Integrated care system leadership
• Health inequalities
• Obesity and diabetes policy

Notable achievements

• Appointed National Medical Director for DHSC and NHS England on 1 June 2026, becoming the most senior doctor in the NHS in England. Source ↗
• As Executive Medical Director, led the Norfolk and Waveney/Norfolk and Suffolk ICB system to become the highest referrers nationally to diabetes prevention programmes and improved hypertension detection and management. Source ↗
• Under her leadership, smoking at time of delivery in Norfolk and Waveney fell from 12.1% in 2022 to 7.6%, with 198 babies born smokefree since the launch of the SmartStart service. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “The NHS has a long history of adopting innovations to improve patient care, and this is another great example of NHS healthcare professionals taking the initiative and trialling new technologies to help to diagnose and treat cancer earlier.”

  NHS England's national medical director · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS hospitals adopt faster, more accurate at-home bladder cancer test ↗

• “The figures showed that summer was putting the NHS under just as much pressure as winter.”

  NHS national medical director · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · UK swelters in third heatwave of the year as western Europe counts cost of hottest-ever June ↗

Source references

1. NHS hospitals adopt faster, more accurate at-home bladder cancer testtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. UK swelters in third heatwave of the year as western Europe counts cost of hottest-ever Junetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.gov.uk/government/people/frankie-swords
• LinkedInhttps://uk.linkedin.com/in/frankie-swords-a0077a263
• Websitehttps://www.england.nhs.ukpublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.