Leonard Fenwick

Sir Leonard Fenwick, CBE is the longest serving NHS hospital Chief Executive. He was, successively, Unit Administrator and General Manager of the Freeman Hospital, becoming Chief Executive when it became an NHS Trust in 1992. In 1998 he became the Chief Executive of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He has worked in the NHS since he joined aged 18 as a management trainee. He commenced work in the health service at the Newcastle General Hospital, becoming senior management lead of the Freeman Hospital and then in 1977 was appointed as Unit Administrator. In April 2011 he was named as the 11th highest paid employee (£232 500) in the English NHS. In 2015 the Health Service Journal judged him as the fifth to top Chief Executive in the National Health Service. According to The Guardian newspaper, he is one of a number of NHS Chief Executives who publicly support government imposition of the new junior doctors contractOn 12 January 2017 the Board of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals announced that Sir Leonard had been placed on extended leave