Ruth Passman

Duty Operations Director
@ NHS England & NHS Improvement

Ruth Passman
  • Bio

A senior public sector executive who has enjoyed a cross-sectoral career spanning academia, the voluntary sector and the Department of Health.

Before taking the position of Duty Operations Director at NHSEI, Ruth held the role of Head of Operations and Strategic Delivery for Experience, Participation and Equalities within NHS England - working on policy and operational agendas that support Sustainable Transformation Partnerships and the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan.

With pertinent experience of implementing end of life care policy whilst in the Department of Health, Ruth also held national and regional policy formulation responsibilities for dignity, ageing and end of life whilst a civil servant. Ruth has continued to champion this agenda by shining a light upon the experience of Inclusion Health groups (eg the destitute) who may face significant barriers to accessing appropriate palliative care and for those with protected characteristics.

Ruth held the national portfolio for Health Inequalities and Equality from 2013-17. Her achievements include the introduction of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and the NHS Workforce Disability Standard (WDES) which were mandated in the 2015-16 and 18-19 through the NHS Standard contract. The workforce equality standards were developed to ensure that organisations place appropriate focus on the gap between the treatment, opportunities and experience of BAME and disabled staff and the rest of the NHS workforce. Ruth enabled a consistent approach to Sexual Orientation by virtue of the Sexual Orientation Information Standard, agreed in February 2017, as the first in a series of information standards to ensure data is collected and utilised for all protected groups across major NHS data sets.