Three new Executive Managing Directors have been appointed to lead the day‑to‑day work at the three acute hospitals that make up the Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group (NWUHG). The appointments were announced on 26 November 2025 and are intended to help the region’s hospitals work more closely together and improve patient services across Norfolk and Waveney.
Dr Shane Gordon has been appointed Executive Managing Director of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), the largest trust in the Norfolk and Waveney system. Jonathan Gardner will be Executive Managing Director of James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) and Michelle Arrowsmith will be Executive Managing Director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn (QEH).
The appointments are part of the NWUHG ‘group model’ to move away from three independently run trusts toward a shared leadership structure that can coordinate resources and reduce unwarranted variation in care across the county. NWUHG and the Norfolk & Waveney Integrated Care System have said the model should help tackle waiting lists and improve coordination; Healthwatch Norfolk has published coverage of the appointments and their local implications.
Under the group model there will be a single Group Board and a single Group Chief Executive (Prof Lesley Dwyer). The Executive Managing Directors will be full members of the Group Board but will remain based at their respective hospitals to provide local leadership and maintain community‑focused care.
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