Suzie BaileyThink tank

Biography

Suzie Bailey is Director of Leadership and Organisational Development at The King's Fund, an independent health policy charity based in London. She joined the Fund in July 2018, having previously served as Director of Leadership and Quality Improvement at NHS Improvement, where she led the design and delivery of the first national framework for improvement and leadership development in England. Earlier in her career she was Service Improvement Director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and she first joined the NHS in 1992 as an operational manager at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. She is a trustee of Skills for Care, a Health Foundation GenerationQ fellow, and sits on the editorial board of the Future Healthcare Journal. She is regularly quoted in response to NHS workforce and staff survey data, and is known for arguing that workforce retention, compassionate leadership culture, and adequate staffing levels are prerequisite to delivering high-quality care.

References

1. 1.Suzie Bailey | The King's Fund — Current role title, organisation, pre-Fund career at NHS Improvement, trusteeships and fellowships
2. 2.Suzie Bailey appointed Director of Leadership and Organisational Development | The King's Fund — Appointment date (July 2018), prior role at NHS Improvement, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals background
3. 3.Suzie Bailey – The Health Foundation — GenerationQ fellowship, early NHS career at St Mary's Paddington (1992), Sheffield career history, MSc in Management (Healthcare)
4. 4.The King's Fund Responds To The GMC's Workforce Report | The King's Fund — Evidence of press spokesperson role on NHS workforce issues (2023)
5. 5.Developing people, improving care: a national improvement and leadership framework for the NHS | The King's Fund

Expertise

Cited on

• Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
• Adult social care & reform

Stated areas of expertise

• NHS leadership development
• Workforce retention and culture
• Compassionate and inclusive leadership
• Organisational development
• NHS staff wellbeing
• Health and care workforce policy

Notable achievements

• Led the design and delivery of the first national framework for improvement and leadership development in NHS-funded services in England, published by NHS Improvement in December 2016. Source ↗
• Created a major programme on culture and leadership at NHS Improvement in collaboration with Professor Michael West and The King's Fund. Source ↗
• Appointed trustee of Skills for Care and elected to the editorial board of the Future Healthcare Journal. Source ↗
• Co-authored (with Professor Michael West) the King's Fund article on five myths of compassionate leadership, referenced by NHS England as a key resource on compassionate and inclusive leadership. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “The dramatic fall in international nurse and midwife recruitment and retention should be sounding alarm bells for politicians, health and care leaders and people who rely on health and care services.”

  NHS workforce expert at the King's Fund thinktank · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Rising racism blamed for collapse in number of foreign nurses coming to UK ↗

• “The NHS cannot deliver high-quality care if staff and managers do not feel safe, valued and supported.”

  director of leadership and organisational development at the King's Fund thinktank · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS to rate English trusts on tackling violence and racism towards staff ↗

• “I think, ultimately, it would impact on the care that the service is able to give, because that money would have to come from somewhere, so other cuts would have to be made.”

  Analyst at the King's Fund · Adult social care & reform · 27 Aug 2026 · Reform UK levy on employing overseas staff ‘would harm NHS and social care’ ↗

Source references

1. Rising racism blamed for collapse in number of foreign nurses coming to UKtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. NHS to rate English trusts on tackling violence and racism towards stafftheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
3. Reform UK levy on employing overseas staff ‘would harm NHS and social care’theguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.kingsfund.org.uk/about-us/our-people/suzie-bailey
• Press office emailpress@kingsfund.org.ukpublished here ↗
• Press office phone020 7307 2585published here ↗

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