Open Road healthcare head takes up NHS role

Open Road's associate director and head of healthcare Andrew Hobson has left the agency to take up a new role with the NHS.

Mr Hobson has become the communications and engagement lead at the South London Commissioning Support Unit for NHS South London, joining an expanded team of 13, reports PRWeek.

He has been with Open Road since 2011 and was previously associate director at Insight Public Affairs, where he specialised in health and social care policy.

Open Road is believed to be in the final stages of recruiting a replacement for the outgoing healthcare head, with associate director Emma Hazelhurst and chief executive Graham McMillan to manage the practice in the interim.

The agency was founded in 2007 and serves a number of leading healthcare companies, including AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Sanofi and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

In June, the firm was hired by the UK Council for Psychotherapy to assist with shaping its comms strategy.