Kenny Gibson MBE

National Director of Safeguarding

NHS England

Kenny Gibson is the Deputy Director for NHS Safeguarding, overseeing the all-ages and integrated safeguarding portfolios including tackling any and all forms of neglect, abuse, exploitation, radicalisation & violence. He leads nationally on contextual safeguarding; trauma informed pare; Prevent in the NHS and Child Protection Information System.

Having begun his NHS career as a laundry assistant in 1980 at a mental health unit, Kenny was encouraged to become a nursing assistant and then trained as a nurse and later a midwife. Kenny has held various operational, management and strategic posts in both community and public health but always with nursing at the heart of these roles. Prior to becoming the Head of Safeguarding for NHS England, Kenny was the Head of Public Health Commissioning for London.

Kenny is passionate about listening & bearing witness to lived-experience and being a champion of local practitioner intelligence across healthcare & within the NHS since sharing data saves lives as well as improves services.

Kenny was awarded his MBE in January 2022 for services to healthcare leadership.

You can follow Kenny on Twitter at: @KennyGibsonNHS or @NHSSafeguarding