The Royal Free London (RFL) has appointed its two most senior clinicians to take on the trust’s deputy chief executive role.

Chief nurse Deborah Sanders and chief medical officer Dr Chris Streather, will take on the joint role with immediate effect whilst retaining their existing portfolios.

The decision, made by the RFL board remuneration committee, follows the appointment of Caroline Clarke, the previous deputy, to the RFL group chief executive role.

Caroline said: “I’m delighted that Debbie and Chris, with more than 60 years of experience as clinicians, are going to help lead us in the next stage of our journey.   

“We have an extremely talented set of executive leaders across our hospitals and group services, and together we are going to continue our work towards providing the best possible care for our patients.”   

Deborah’s focus will be to develop and deliver the RFL people strategy and to help support sites in delivering key operational standards while Chris will oversee population health, commercial and strategic priorities.