Professor Frankie Swords
Biography
Professor Francesca (Frankie) Swords took up the post of National Medical Director on 1 June 2026, working across DHSC and NHS England.
She was previously Executive Medical Director at NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board and has over 30 years’ experience in the NHS, including Executive Medical Director roles at both NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board and NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board.
Alongside this, she worked as a consultant physician and endocrinologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and is an honorary professor to Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia.
Earlier in her career, she was Medical Director at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, and held multiple medical leadership positions at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, after completing her training in Oxford and London.
National Medical Director
Responsibilities include:
- medical and clinical leadership (primary, community, mental health and neurodiversity)
- professional standards and performers list
- prevention and long-term conditions
- Office of the Chief Dental Officer
- Office of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer
- public health