About Kate

Turning around a trust in special measures requires a particular kind of leader: someone who can hold the complexity of regulatory scrutiny, staff morale, clinical safety, and strategic ambition all at once. Kate Shields has done it.

Kate joined Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust as Deputy Chief Executive in 2017 and was appointed Chief Executive after leading the trust's improvement journey. She subsequently became CEO of NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, taking responsibility for health system leadership across the county. Her career has been defined by her ability to build trust, drive improvement, and lead organisations through periods of significant change.

She understands what it takes to move an organisation from crisis to confidence, because she has done it from the inside.

At Strasys, Kate advises boards and leadership teams on the challenges she knows from direct experience: trust turnaround, system integration, regulatory navigation, and building the leadership cultures that sustain improvement over time. Her perspective bridges the gap between acute provider leadership and integrated care system governance, making her particularly valuable for organisations navigating the transition to place-based and system-level working.