Skip to main content

Vaughan Gething, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services

First published:
17 November 2017
Last updated:

This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Alex Howells as the first Chief Executive of Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW).

The Chief Executive of HEIW is a pivotal and influential role within NHS Wales and the wider Welsh public sector.  Alex will have the opportunity to shape and cultivate the new single body responsible for overseeing the strategic development of the health workforce in Wales.  

Alex brings a wealth of experience to the role. She started working in the NHS as a graduate management trainee and has held a number of senior management posts across South Wales over the last 20 years, including nine years as Director of Planning for Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust. Alex was appointed to Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board when it was formed in 2009, as Director of Primary, Community and Mental Health Services, and was made Chief Operating Officer in April 2012 with day to day responsibility for delivery of all clinical services within the Health Board.  Alex took up the interim role of Chief Executive of ABMU in March 2017.