Nicola Prygodzicz named CEO of Aneurin Bevan health board

She steps into the chief executive role after eight years working for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.

Mrs Prygodzicz first joined the organisation as assistant finance director and has since served as executive director of planning, digital and IT and - more recently - as deputy chief executive.

She said: “I can’t wait to get started and I look forward to meeting with our staff, communities and partners over the coming months in my new role.”

Earlier this summer, Mrs Prygodzicz spoke at length with the Argus about the challenges facing the NHS in Gwent, including the performance of the Grange University Hospital, a specialist critical care facitlity which opened in 2020.

First minister Mark Drakeford (centre) opens the Grange University Hospital, with health board representatives including Nicola Prygodzicz (left). Picture: Welsh Government

Like the rest of the UK, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has had to face ongoing pressures and growing waiting lists for treatment since the height of the pandemic, but speaking in July, Mrs Prygodzicz said the decision to open the Grange was invaluable because it freed up space for non-Covid patients elsewhere in Gwent.

Speaking at the time, she said "I don’t know how we would have managed" without the Grange during the pandemic, because Covid was engulfing wards at other hospitals.

"Obstetrics, paediatrics, they believe they would not have been able to survive the winter of 2020 if we hadn’t opened the hospital, because we were already struggling… we just didn’t have enough space to provide paediatric care," she added. "Critical care went into a brand-new facility and we contained it all."

Following the appointment of Mrs Prygodzicz, the health board expressed its thanks to Glyn Jones, who stepped in as interim chief executive in November 2021.