Benenden Healthcare Society has confirmed Ken Hesketh as its Chief Executive as it further strengthens its management team.
He will oversee the implementation of an ambitious three-year Business Plan aimed at positioning the Society, which has a membership of around 950,000 as a key player in the development of healthcare services in the UK.
Mr Hesketh has been acting Chief Executive since September, having previously been Director of the Society’s Benenden Hospital in Kent.
Commenting on his appointment he said: “This is an exciting time to become Chief Executive of an organisation like Benenden. The UK’s healthcare sector is going through rapid and seismic change. Standards are rising while new technologies and medicines are emerging all the time.
“Through today’s instant communication technology, people’s understanding of healthcare issues and their expectations are expanding as never before. We believe mutual organisations such as the Society are well-placed to respond to these developments and have a greater role to play in the UK’s future healthcare developments.
Stan Blayney, chair of the Society’s Committee of Managment, said: “Ken is a hugely experienced healthcare manager and is widely respected across the Society, particularly after the six years he has spent successfully leading the Benenden Hospital. He has the complete confidence of the Committee of Management and we believe he is the right person to lead the Society through an important period of its development.”
Ken Hesketh has more than 25 years’ experience of healthcare management, having held a variety of senior positions in the NHS, the private sector and at Benenden. He became Director of the Benenden Hospital in July 2002.
In the NHS, he was appointed as general manager of the Medway Health Authority in 1992 and then as Chief Executive to the Medway NHS Trust in 1994. From 1999 and before joining Benenden Hospital he worked as Head of Workforce Planning for the NHS (South Region). Previously he spent eight years in private sector healthcare, running hospital management contracts in the Middle East with both Allied Medical Group and International Hospitals Group.
