Boss of Peterborough-based Compare the Market chosen for advisory role with NHS England

​The boss of a leading employer in Peterborough has been chosen by health officials to help oversee the running of the NHS.

​Mark Bailie, chief executive of price comparison website Compare the Market, based in Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, and which employs about 700 people, has been invited to become a non-executive director on the board of NHS England.

Mr Bailie, who joined the business in 2020, said: “It is a great honour to be asked to join the board of NHS England as a non-executive director.

"I’m very much looking forward to sharing my experience of building easy to use technology solutions to support the leadership of the NHS.”

Mr Bailie will remain with Compare the Market during his role with the NHS.

Mr Bailie is one of a number of new non-executive appointments that has just been announced by NHS England.

Richard Meddings, Chair of NHS England, said: “I’m delighted that we are adding such a strong level and range of expertise to the NHS England board.

"Input from the new non-executive directors will be vital as we continue recovery of services following the pandemic, manage record demand for care, implement the ambitious NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, and as we continue to transform healthcare for patients for the future.

"I know each of the new directors will bring invaluable insight and experience to the NHS as well as helping us to further improve the experiences of patients.”

The new appointment is not Mr Bailie’s first role with the NHS.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, he was seconded as one of the four business leaders to the NHS Test & Trace service, which was a key part of the Government’s response to coronavirus pandemic

The project required the development of technology, infrastructure and the recruitment of a team to run the Test & Trace programme.

And just a year ago Mr Bailie warned that more people were considering taking out private medical cover as anxieties grew about the state of the NHS.

He said that his company, which provides insurance price comparisons, had seen an 80 per cent growth in the number of people checking out private medical insurance.

Speaking in April last year, Mr Bailie said the increase in interest in private medical cover had appeared over the space of three months.

Before joining the BGL Group in 2020, Mr Bailie had spent 10 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) where he was the founder of Bó, which was RBS’ digital banking app.

He had previously spent a decade in private equity, leading large-scale buyouts and prior to that he worked for PwC for five years, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

Two years after arriving at the BGL Group, the business was broken up.

While Compare the Market remained as a standalone business, BGL Insurance was sold to Kent-headquartered Markerstudy, in a deal reported to be worth about £400 million.