Helen Bevan: Embracing new horizons

Biography

If Helen Bevan were a character in the BBC comedy W1A she would be “Director of Better.” In the real world she is chief transformation officer of NHS England’s Horizons team. Her job is largescale change, and her NHS career, which began at Leicester Royal Infirmary in the 1990s, is studded with initiatives including the launch in 2012 of the national NHS Change Day—a day of voluntary collective action that has won a global award from the Harvard Business Review and the management consultancy McKinsey. Her philosophy is to rock the boat without falling out, and she has so far succeeded. “Way cool,” as W1A’s Siobhan would say.