Adel Jones appointed as new Chief Operating Officer
We look forward to welcoming Adel Jones as our new Chief Operating Officer at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust from 5 May 2026.
Adel is currently the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer with Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and is leading the introduction of Epic as the new Electronic Patient Record there.
Adel will bring with her significant experience of large-scale transformational change across health and social care, operational leadership, quality improvement, digital transformation and workforce redesign. She was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive in 2023 and took up the position of Chief Operating Officer in spring 2025, with accountability for the safe and effective operational delivery of all health and community services, estates and facilities management, emergency planning and preparedness, performance management and information and quality improvement.
Adel said: "I am excited to be joining as the Chief Operating Officer. For me, it’s an opportunity to learn, to stretch myself and my skills in a large specialist hospital and to contribute in a different way - while staying rooted here in Devon and continuing to contribute to the shared work we’re doing across the county. I have worked closely with colleagues in UHP for a number of years and, most recently, as we collaborate to implement a single electronic patient record across all hospitals in Devon. This presents a real shift in how we share information, how we make decisions and how we join up care across hospital and community - with a single record that follows the patient through their care. This is a really exciting time, for clinicians, for patients and for me as I step into this new role with new colleagues. I am looking forward to getting to know the teams at UHP and helping them drive further improvement for local people.”
Chief Executive Neil Macdonald welcomed Adel, saying: “Adel’s experience of leading complex programmes and her strong focus on people, both patients and colleagues, will be warmly welcomed at UHP. Her operational leadership will be critical, coming at a time when we know we have more work to do to make sure patients can access care, be that planned care or emergency care, quickly and safely. We are really looking forward to working with Adel.”
