NHS England Chief Breaks Silence To Brand Hester's Remarks 'Racist, Sexist And Violent'

The head of NHS England has condemned remarks made by Frank Hester, the health tech entrepreneur, as "racist, sexist and violent", amid internal pressure to speak out.

- Matthew Weaver, Denis Campbell

Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive officer of NHS England, discussed Hester's comments about Labour MP Diane Abbott in a briefing to senior health service leaders.

In her weekly "healthcare leaders update", sent on Monday, Pritchard said she shared the "shock and disgust" that many people in the NHS had expressed about Hester's words.

The Guardian revealed last week that at a meeting in 2019, Hester said, seeing Abbott on TV made "you want to hate all black women" and that the former shadow home secretary "should be shot". Hester later apologised for the remarks, but denied they were motivated by race or gender.

Hester's firm the Phoenix Partnership (TPP) is a major NHS supplier and has received more than £400m in contracts from the NHS and other government bodies since 2016. It also manages the software for more than 60m patient records across the UK.

In her weekly update, Pritchard said: "I want to end this note by addressing an issue that has shocked many of us over the last seven days.