Prof Joe Harrison: key facts
- Kind of voice
- Regulator
- Role
- Chief Executive
- Organisation based in
- Milton Keynes Central
- Quoted on
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
- Tracked press citations
- 1
- Most recently quoted
- 27 Aug 2026
Who Prof Joe Harrison is
Professor Joe Harrison CBE has been Chief Executive of Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since February 2013, turning around the trust's quality, performance and finances and overseeing significant expansion of the hospital estate, including a new cancer and radiotherapy centre and an academic centre built in partnership with the University of Buckingham. Under his leadership MKUH gained teaching hospital status and pioneered digital advances in patient care. From January 2023 to August 2025 he served concurrently as NHS England's National Director for Digital Channels, overseeing the development of the NHS App, during which time monthly logins grew substantially. He is currently Chair of the NHS Advisory Board for Procurement and Supply at NHS Supply Chain and a Trustee of the NHS Confederation. He was awarded a CBE for services to healthcare in the 2025 New Year Honours.
“The only route to stabilising the service, improving access and quality of care, and relieving pressure on exhausted staff is radically rethinking what hospitals do and how they do it.”
References for this biography
- 1.Board of Directors – Milton Keynes University Hospital — Current role as CEO, tenure from 2013, CBE award, and National Director for Digital Channels role; also identifies @JoeHMK as his X account
- 2.Prof Joe Harrison CBE – NHS Confederation — Full biography including National Director for Digital Channels dates (January 2023–August 2025), NHS App growth, current roles as Chair of NHS Advisory Board for Procurement and Supply and NHS Confederation Trustee, and CBE
- 3.NHS staff among those recognised in 2025 New Year Honours list – NHS England — CBE for services to healthcare confirmed by NHS England; his role overseeing the NHS App
- 4.Joe Harrison CBE appointed Chair of NHS Advisory Board for Procurement and Supply – NHS Supply Chain — Appointment as Chair of NHS Advisory Board for Procurement and Supply, May 2025
- 5.Information for the Media – Milton Keynes University Hospital — Organisational press contact route: switchboard number and duty press officer process
- 6.Contact: Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – Care Quality Commission — Confirms organisation head office address: Standing Way, Eaglestone, Milton Keynes, MK6 5LD
Notable achievements
- Appointed NHS England National Director for Digital Channels in January 2023, overseeing the NHS App; monthly logins trebled to over 50 million during his tenure (January 2023–August 2025). Source ↗
- Awarded a CBE for services to healthcare in the 2025 New Year Honours. Source ↗
- Appointed Chair of the NHS Advisory Board for Procurement and Supply at NHS Supply Chain in May 2025, succeeding Sir James Mackey. Source ↗
- Led MKUH to gain teaching hospital status and oversaw building of an academic centre in partnership with the University of Buckingham and a new cancer centre. Source ↗
Recent social activity
On #InternationalNursesDay I want to recognise the extraordinary contribution of the nursing workforce. We are so grateful for your skill, expertise, leadership and dedication. You embody so much of what makes the NHS something to be proud of. Thank you all for everything you do.
It’s #NationalDoctorsDay and I’d like to express my personal and professional gratitude to the doctors I work with, and those who have cared and care for me, my family and friends. Thank you so much for all you do and for all you contribute to the NHS.
Where Prof Joe Harrison has been quoted
- Hospitals must get smaller to stop NHS ‘permacrisis’, thinktank urgestheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Contact & links
- Staff pagehttps://www.mkuh.nhs.uk/about-us/our-structure/board-of-directors
- Xhttps://x.com/JoeHMKpublished here ↗
Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.
Named officials of regulators, arms-length bodies and public agencies such as the CQC, NHS England or a local authority association. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.