Martin Connor is a philosopher, who has been described as an intellectual with a very nice style and a leadership approach which is participative and collaborative.
He comes to the Irish job with a formidable academic and delivery background.
In 2001, he received his PhD in philosophy from Durham University, where he had studied classical and linguistic philosophy.
He joined the NHS on the graduate management training programme in 1999. Between 2002 and 2005, he was Associate Director (Health Reform) for the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority. He co-authored the GMSHA’s strategy, which lead to the area moving from “special measures” to “high performing” within two years. This strategy included the first health authority-wide demand management system in the NHS that was commended by the Audit Commission.
Between 2005 and 2008, he was special policy adviser to the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, leading the development of national policy at Permanent Secretary and Ministerial level. He went on to lead the reform programme and established the Service Delivery Unit in Northern Ireland. This transformed waiting times for elective assessment and treatment, increased the involvement of clinical professionals in decision making and developed a novel high, frequency, patient level information base to support strategic decision making.
He then became Deputy Chief Executive at Trafford PCT in Manchester, England and then Director of the Trafford Integrated Care Organisation Programme in the UK NHS.
He is currently a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice at Stanford University, in the United States, where his studies include integrated care and its potential to contribute to the delivery system aspects of health reform.
