Group Chief Executive
Louise Stead was appointed as Group Chief Executive of Ashford and St Peter’s and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trusts in January 2025.
Louise qualified as a registered nurse in 1988 and had a varied clinical career across many specialities in a number of London teaching hospitals. She became Chief Executive of Royal Surrey in 2018 and prior to this held roles as Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director of Nursing. She was pivotal to the Trust achieving a ‘good’ rating from the Care Quality Commission in 2018 and to Royal Surrey County Hospital achieving an ‘outstanding’ rating in 2020.
She has an MSc in Professional Practice (Leadership and Management), is a Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey and specialist advisor to the Care Quality Commission, participating in well-led reviews at other NHS trusts.
Louise chairs the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance and co-chairs the National Cancer Alliance Leadership Forum. She is also a Provider Partner Member of the NHS Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board.
In 2023 and 2024, Louise was included in the HSJ top 50 list of pre-eminent NHS Trust leaders, ranking 13th out of 219 NHS Trust chief executives by judges across the health and social care profession in the first year. Louise is passionate about putting the patient at the heart of every discussion and the effect that good leadership has on clinical outcomes.
