A north Cumbrian health trust has appointed a permanent chief executive.
Trudie Davies has been interim chief executive at the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust nine months and has now been given the role permanently.
The trust is responsible for the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary, community hospitals and other services.
The NHS Intensive Recovery programme has identified trusts at the bottom of the NHS league tables where patients faced the longest waits, there was high leadership turnover and there were persistent financial problems.
The Government said the trusts were not failing through lack of effort, leadership or the hard work of staff.
It added: “They face deep-rooted challenges — including structural constraints, workforce pressures and financial imbalance.”
The trust said this week that NHS England backed Ms Davies’ appointment to help drive the rapid transformation needed.
It added: “Under Trudie’s interim leadership, performance is showing clear signs of improvement following a renewed focus on quality and safety.
“The trust is now seeing reductions in waiting times for operations, diagnostic tests and cancer care.
“Urgent and emergency care performance has also improved, meaning patients across north Cumbria are already experiencing the benefits.”
A major new £4 million investment has been agreed to strengthen urgent and emergency care services at the trust.
The £4m package includes:
- More staffing for the new Urgent Treatment Centre in Carlisle which will allow for the centre to be fully opened to see patients with minor injuries
- An increase in doctors working in acute medicine so more decisions can be made about patients at evenings and weekends in both Carlisle and Whitehaven
- An expanded Same Day Emergency Care facility at the Cumberland Infirmary so that patients can be treated on the day without a hospital admission
- Making the new centre for frail, elderly patients at West Cumberland Hospital permanent and opening one at the Cumberland Infirmary. This supports patients to access the care they need without going through A&E and can include being referred onto the frailty virtual ward
- Creation of a medical workforce recruitment team to help us to recruit to more vacancies and be less reliant on high-cost temporary agency and locum staff
Ms Davies, who was previously chief executive at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s an absolute honour and a real privilege to have been appointed as chief executive at such an important moment.
“Since I arrived I’ve been made to feel so welcome by colleagues and the wider community and I’ve already learned so much from the incredible people here.
“North Cumbria is full of talented and dedicated people, who care passionately about their health services and inspire me every single day with their dedication to making a real difference.
“Together we have already begun to make encouraging steps forward on the challenges ahead, and it’s clear to me just how much potential this organisation holds.
“I’m genuinely excited about what we can achieve together. My focus is now on accelerating our recovery and delivering safe, high-quality care for all of our communities.”
