Louise Robson has today (2nd November 2020) announced that she will be leaving her role as Chief Executive of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust to take up a new post working across the North West, North East and Yorkshire.

Louise, who joined the Trust in January 2019, is moving to become Chief Executive Lead for Provider Collaboration to support the development of NHS hospitals working together covering seven health and care networks in the North of England. Learning from this work will influence how so called “provider collaboratives” develop at pace across the country.

Following Louise’s announcement it has been agreed that Karen James OBE, Chief Executive of Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, will provide leadership support to Stockport NHS Foundation Trust over the next 12 months after which this arrangements will be reviewed. Karen will retain Chief Executive responsibilities across both trusts, supported by their strong respective executive directors’ teams.

One of the positive things to come out of the way the NHS has responded to the Covid-19 pandemic is how NHS provider organisations have worked together, and the development of “provider collaborative” builds on that experience. Louise is excited to be given the opportunity to help shape a new more devolved way of working that will put NHS provider organisations at the forefront of developing new systems and healthcare economies to meet the needs of local communities.

We are extremely grateful to Louise for the work she has done over the last two years and under her leadership there has been a number of significant improvements and development in the Trust, including:

• best stroke service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the third time in five years,
• integrated working through Stockport Family highlighted as a national and regional exemplar,
• recognised as one of the safest places in England and Wales for hip and knee surgery for both mortality and revision rates,
• designation of Stepping Hill Hospital as a clinical research site with a 382% increase in patients and staff taking part in research, the fifth highest increase in the country;
• school nursing service amongst the top performers in the country for immunising girls with HPV, and one of the first to offer it to boys;
• national recognition for improvement and evidence of strong partnership working through the creation of the Frailty Intervention Team involving GPs, pharmacists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers and Age UK;
• development of Veterans Passport for Health and Social Care, which was chosen to be showcased at the NHS Confederation, praised by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and adopted by other organisations;
• secured £2.6m for news CT scanners and £1.8m to improve endoscopy services,
• development and publication of the Trust Strategy (2020-2025), with comprehensive engagement across the organisation,
• inclusive and engaged process for agreeing our values and behaviours, including direct involvement of 3,500 staff over the Summer and Autumn of 2019;
• largest increase in staff survey participation at 55% in the country,
• successful recruitment to traditionally hard to attract clinical roles, such as microbiologists, and 100 nurses recruited to join the Trust over last three months;
• delivery of Trust financial grip and control, improving forecast outturn from £38.2m deficit to £31.5m deficit in 2018/19 and £2.5m surplus in 2019/20;
• rapid improvements to the emergency department, including filling vacancies, achieving training and education standards, and positive culture changes praised in the recent CQC re-inspection;
• a massive focus on improving flow through our services that supported us so well during the first wave of the pandemic,
• huge improvements to our estates and facilities services,
• secured £31.6m for a new emergency care and pathology campus, with a comprehensive outline business case recently submitted to the Treasury.

I am sure that with Karen’s support we will see further improvements to the long standing challenges facing the Trust and the local health and care system. She will bring clinically led expertise in quality and performance improvement, but also a deep commitment to employee engagement, partnership and integrated working. I am confident Karen will enhance the skills available to our Board.

Karen James has led Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust since 2014 and she will retain her Chief Executive responsibilities there, ably supported by her strong executive team, and with Trish Cavanagh, Deputy Chief Executive, providing the day-to-day leadership for the Trust.

Taking on the role of Chief Executive Lead for Provider Collaboratives is a tremendous opportunity for Louise. We wish her well for the future, and we look forward to welcoming Karen to the Trust from Monday 9th  November.

Adrian Belton

Chair