Professor Judith Smith

Professor Judith Smith

Health Services Management Centre
Professor of Health Policy and Management

Contact details

Address
School of Social Policy and Society, HSMC
Park House
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2RT, United Kingdom

Judith Smith is Professor of Health Policy and Management within the Health Services Management Centre. She is a highly experienced and widely published health services researcher and policy analyst, specialising in health care organisation and management, having spent almost 30 years working in health services research and development, following an earlier career as a senior manager in the NHS. Her main research interests are: the organisation and management of primary care; long-term conditions and integrated care; health purchasing and commissioning; the development and evaluation of health care organisation and service delivery; and health care management and governance.

Judith is Director of Health Services Research with , the clinical academic alliance 麻豆精选 NHS trusts, the University 麻豆精选, Aston University and Health Innovation West Midlands.  She is also Visiting Senior Fellow at the and a Senior Associate of the

She is a Trustee and Chair of the membership organisation for health services researchers. 

In 2023, Judith was appointed Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the at the University of Cambridge.

Judith is the Methodological and Quality Assurance lead for the BRACE Rapid Evaluation Centre funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research for five years (2023-2028), having been Director of the first period of the BRACE Centre’s work (2018-2023). From 2015 until 2022, Judith was Director of the Health Services Management Centre.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Health Services Management, University 麻豆精选, 2009
  • MBA in Business Administration, Open University Business School, 1999
  • Diploma in Health Services Management, Institute of Health Services Management, 1990
  • BA (Hons) in French Language and Literature, University 麻豆精选, 1987

Biography

Prior to taking up her role as Professor of Health Policy and Management at HSMC Judith spent six years as Director of Policy at the Nuffield Trust - an independent charitable research foundation based in London.

From 2007-2009 Judith was based in Aotearoa New Zealand working as Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Health Services Research Centre in the Victoria University of Wellington and (from 2008-2009) as Senior Policy Fellow in the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

From 2000 to 2024 Judith was Deputy Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research's Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme. She has previously served as a Non-Executive Director of the Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust (2014-2022) and South Birmingham Primary Care Trust (2002-2004), and was a board member of the European Health Management Association (2004-2006). 

In 2013, Judith was appointed Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Commission on Future Models of Care.  From 2010-2013 she served as Expert Adviser to the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry and then as an Assessor of the Inquiry's recommendations.  In 2001, she prepared expert evidence (with Professor Chris Ham) on health services management for the Bristol Public Inquiry into paediatric surgery.

Teaching

 Judith contributes teaching sessions to the Healthcare Management MSc module, and the MSc Degree Apprenticeship in Health and Social Care Leadership.

Judith is also a personal tutor to participants on the MSc Degree Apprenticeship in Health and Social Care Leadership.

Research

Judith maintains an active portfolio of research projects, funded by a range of national and local bodies, all focused on how the organisation and delivery of health services might be further improved.  Current and recent projects include:  

  • A rapid evaluation of approaches to general practice improvement used by integrated care boards in England, for the NIHR BRACE Centre
  • Principal investigator for a portfolio analysis study of the full set of phase 1 BRACE rapid evaluations, exploring their focus on and implications for people living with multiple long-term conditions (2019-2023)
  •  A study of the use of  (for Birmingham Health Partners).
  • A rapid evaluation of the implementation of Primary Care Networks in the NHS in England (for NIHR BRACE Centre) 
  • A study of the narrative (with the University of Aberdeen and the Health foundation)
  • the National Evaluation of(funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme, and led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)

Other activities

Judith is a member of the following: 

  • Health Services Research UK, as Trustee and Chair
  • Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand
  • The Society of Authors 
  • European Health Policy Group

Judith is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine

She is Trustee and Director of , and Education and Participation

Judith also holds the following visiting academic appointments: 

  • Visiting Senior Fellow, The Health Foundation, London
  • Senior Associate, the Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health, London

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Gulati, S & Smith, JA 2024, '', BMJ Leader.

Sussex, J, Smith, J & Wu, F 2024, '', Health and Social Care Delivery Research, vol. 12, no. 15.

Walshe, K, Smith, J, Lamont, T & Leary, A 2024, '', British Medical Journal, vol. 387, e078997.

Smith, J, Ellins, J, Sherlaw-Johnson, C, Vindrola-Padros, C, Appleby, J, Morris, SM, Sussex, J & Fulop, NJ 2023, '', Health and Social Care Delivery Research, vol. 11, no. 11.

Burn, E, Fisher, R, Locock, L & Smith, J 2022, '', Primary Health Care Research & Development, vol. 23, e45, pp. 1-7.

Burn, E, Smith, J, Fisher, R, Locock, L & Shires, K 2022, '', Frontiers in Sociology, vol. 7, 959222.

Comment/debate

Smith, J 2025, '', The Conversation. <>

Smith, J 2024, '', The Conversation. <>

Commissioned report

Smith, J 2025, . The Thirlwall Inquiry, Liverpool. <>

Smith, J 2025, . The Thirlwall Inquiry, Liverpool. <>

Smith, J 2025, . The Thirlwall Inquiry, Liverpool. <>

Miller, R, Smith, J, Durand, MA & Mays, N 2024, .

Beech, J, Smith, J, Fraser, C, Thorlby, R, Williamson, S & Fisher, R 2023, . The Health Foundation, London. <>

Lewis, R, Smith, J, Davies, A, Evison, F, Pankhurst, T, Belasco, M & Posaner, R 2023, . Birmingham Health Partners Centre for Regulatory Science & Innovation , Birmingham. <>

Conference contribution

Smith, J & Thorlby, R 2022, in Policy and organisational responses to public inquiries in health: will we ever learn?. Reading University Law Symposium, Reading, United Kingdom, 22/04/22.

Expertise

An expert on the NHS, health policy, primary care and general practice, health funding and commissioning, healthcare leadership and management. Professor Smith is the Director of the Health Services Management Centre and was previously Director of Policy at the Nuffield Trust, an independent charitable health research foundation in London.

Languages and other information

English (native speaker) 

French (fluent speaker)

Media experience

As Director of Policy of a major national health research foundation (2009-2015), my work entailed extensive communication and influencing activity with government, the media, the Department of Health, national representative organisations, and local health and social care bodies.  I continue to undertake this work from my position as Director of HSMC at the University 麻豆精选.  

I regularly provide background briefings, write articles and prepare blogs for the print and on-line media.  I have written for the Guardian, Health Service Journal, British Medical Journal, and the Conversation.  I also regularly give interviews to the media, and have appeared on BBC News, BBC News 24, The World Tonight, File on Four, Five Live News, and numerous BBC local news stations.

Expertise

Health and Social care

Professor Judith Smith is an expert on the NHS, health policy, primary care and general practice, health funding and commissioning, healthcare leadership and management.

Policy experience

Judith’s standing in the academic and policy community has been recognised in a number of ways. For example, in 2020 she was asked to form part of two new Colleges of Experts established by UKRI and NIHR to review and fund research commissioned rapidly to understand the Covid-19 pandemic and its implications for health and social care service delivery and organisation in both the UK and global contexts. 

Shewas expert adviser on NHS organisation and commissioning to the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, prepared four expert inquiry papers, gave two days of oral expert evidence to the inquiry, and presented at two of the inquiry policy seminars (on commissioning, and trust boards and their leaders).  In November 2012, she was appointed by Robert Francis QC to be an assessor to the Inquiry in relation to policy recommendations. 

Judith has given oral evidence to the Health Select Committee of the House of Commons as part of inquiries into: public expenditure on health; the implementation of the Coalition Government’s health reforms; and care for people with long-term conditions.  She gave oral evidence to the House of Lords 2013 Inquiry into the Inquiries Act, exploring her experience of being an expert adviser and assessor to the Francis Inquiry. 

She was Independent Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Commission on Future Models of Care which resulted in a publication, launched at a Parliamentary conference chaired by Sarah Wollaston MP (Chair of the Health Select Committee), setting out a new direction for pharmacy in England. 

Judith is a Non-Executive Director of the Birmingham Women and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (2014-), where she is also the Chair of the Trust’s Research and Service Innovation Committee, and a member of the Quality Committee, Audit Committee, and Ethics Advisory Group.  

Judith provides regular advice to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England & Improvement in relation to primary care, integrated care, health commissioning, and wider health policy and governance issues.  She also works closely with bodies such as NHS Providers, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, National Voices, the National Association of Primary Care, NHS Confederation and the medical royal colleges.

She is listed as an expert in the University 麻豆精选 Policy experts guide.