Simon Stevens takes the top spot in 2014 HSJ100

Each November for the past nine years, HSJ has assembled a group of experts to consider a challenging question: who will wield the most influence in healthcare in the coming 12 months?

This year, with a general election imminent, the challenge for our judges was more acute than ever. We all know that the politicians in government post election will have a significant impact on the NHS. What we do not know is which politicians they will be.

More on the HSJ100 2014

Alastair McLellan

Alastair McLellan

The quantity and nature of the new entries into this year’s HSJ100 reflect that situation. Of the 35 new names, seven come from the world of politics. Two are leading journalists, who will inform voters on the leading parties’ plans for the vote winner and loser that is the NHS. The majority of the remaining names are established players in the health world, whose expertise and opinions are likely to be sought whichever party - or collection of parties - ultimately forms the government.

It is revealing that it is not a politician in our top spot, however. Jeremy Hunt - who recently exclusively told HSJ he wants to remain in the health secretary post until 2017 - falls one place to number two.

‘It is revealing that it is not a politician in our top spot’

Instead, it is NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens who heads this year’s HSJ100. Given the impact of the NHS Five Year Forward View, this seems only right. As politicians prepare their manifesto pledges on health, it seems that foremost in their minds is how to make the vision outlined in NHS England’s document a reality.

Just as judging the HSJ100 is always challenging, so too is the health service always in flux. Just as this year was more challenging for our judges than most, so too will 2015 be a year of more flux than most. Here are the people we think most likely to be influencing the direction of that movement.

HSJ100 2014

  1. Simon Stevens
  2. Jeremy Hunt
  3. Jeremy Heywood
  4. Bruce Keogh
  5. Andy Burnham
  6. Mike Richards
  7. David Behan
  8. David Bennett
  9. Richard Douglas
  10. Sally Davies
  11. Paul Baumann
  12. David Flory
  13. Patrick Carter
  14. Steve Field
  15. Mark Porter
  16. Norman Lamb
  17. Chaand Nagpaul
  18. Maureen Baker
  19. Nick Seddon
  20. David Dalton
  21. Danny Alexander
  22. Malcolm Grant
  23. David Haslam
  24. Una O’Brien
  25. Stephen Hay
  26. Andrew Dillon
  27. Keith Willett
  28. Barbara Hakin
  29. (Freddie) Earl Howe
  30. Andrea Sutcliffe
  31. Christine McAnea
  32. Julie Moore
  33. Ian Dodge
  34. Peter Carter
  35. Duncan Selbie
  36. Greg Beales
  37. Robert Naylor
  38. Hugh Pym
  39. Chris Ham
  40. Ed Smith
  41. Nigel Edwards
  42. Tim Kelsey
  43. Liz Kendall
  44. Sam Everington
  45. Fiona Caldicott
  46. Ara Darzi
  47. Julian Kelly
  48. Chris Leslie
  49. David Fish
  50. Lyton Crosby
  51. David Prior
  52. Ben Dyson
  53. Geraldine Strathdee
  54. Bill Kirkup
  55. Bob Alexander
  56. Chris Hopson
  57. Caroyln Downs
  58. Andrew Ridley
  59. Paul Bate
  60. Ian Cumming
  61. Amanda Doyle
  62. Martin Mcshane
  63. Niall Dickson
  64. Robert Francis
  65. John Bell
  66. Clare Marx
  67. Terence Stephenson
  68. Jeremy Taylor
  69. Dr Hugo Mascie-Taylor
  70. Sarah Wollaston
  71. Catherine Davies
  72. Jon Rouse
  73. Anne Rainsbury
  74. Jane Cummings
  75. Kathy Mclean
  76. Paul Watson
  77. Peter Melton
  78. Richard Barker
  79. Ron Kerr
  80. Paul Dacre
  81. Kate Granger
  82. Paul Flynn
  83. Jane Dacre
  84. Jennifer Dixon
  85. Margaret Hodge
  86. Rob Webster
  87. Geoff Alltimes
  88. Danny Mortimer
  89. Mike Bewick
  90. Cathy Warwick
  91. John Oldham
  92. Jeremy Hughes
  93. Arvind Madan
  94. Victor Adebowale
  95. Phillip Hunt
  96. Nick Black
  97. John Appleby
  98. Mike Farrar
  99. Ajay Kakkar
  100. Peter Lees

THE JUDGES

  • Alastair McLellan, editor, HSJ
  • Paul Bate director of strategy and intelligence, Care Quality Commission
  • Ade Adeyemi chair, Young Fabians Health Network
  • Professor Alistair Burns national clinical director for dementia in England, professor of old age psychiatry, Manchester University and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre
  • Mike Farrar consultant, Mike Farrar Consulting
  • Bill McCarthy deputy vice chancellor (operations), Bradford University
  • Sarah-Jane Marsh chief executive, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust
  • Helen Hirst chief officer, Bradford City CCG
  • Julie Wood lead director, NHS Clinical Commissioners
  • Thomas Cawston head of health, Policy Exchange
  • Dr Michelle Drage chief executive, Londonwide Local Medical Committees
  • Alastair Henderson chief executive, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
  • Jeremy Hughes chair, National Voices and chief executive, Alzheimer’s Society
  • Lord Victor Adebowale chief executive, Turning Point
  • Sir Ian Carruthers chair, Portsmouth Hospitals Trust
  • Professor Sir Simon Wessely president, Royal College of Psychiatrists
  • Dr Richard Vautrey deputy chair, British Medical Association’s GP committee
  • Nick Samuels director of communications, Foundation Trust Network
  • Gavin Johnstone founder and managing director, Hunter Healthcare

How the HSJ100 is judged

The HSJ100 seeks to indicate who will have the greatest influence over English health policy and the NHS in the 12 months from December 2014. The HSJ team prepares a long list of candidates over the summer and early autumn. A panel of judges is put together that combines knowledge of influence in healthcare and represents most shades of opinion. Judges who are on this HSJ100 list were excluded from conversations about their own inclusion. The prime minister, deputy prime minister and chancellor were excluded.

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HSJ100: Our top names are best positioned to shape a year of volatility and voters