Acute trust promotes COO to top job

James Paget University Hospitals Foundation Trust has announced chief operating officer Jo Segasby, who is a registered nurse, is to become the trust’s new chief executive.

The appointment follows Anna Hills’ decision to take the chief executive job at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough FT, as HSJ reported in December, following the imminent retirement of Tracey Dowling.

Like Ms Segasby, Ms Hills had also already been a senior executive at the Norfolk district general hospital before being appointed chief executive. Ms Hill originally joined the trust in 2010, before being promoted from deputy CEO to the top role in 2019.

Ms Segasby takes on the role at a critical stage in the trust’s history after it was named as part of the government’s new hospitals programme. A new Gorleston hospital is scheduled to open in 2030 but there is much to do to ensure this major project, which is in very early planning stages, stays on track.

An experienced NHS manager with a clinical background, Ms Segasby has been working in the NHS for over 30 years. She joined James Paget in 2018, and was appointed COO in 2019, after several senior managerial roles, including operational director for surgery at local tertiary centre Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital from 2014.

A trust statement said that prior to that she “carried out clinical work in accident and emergency and critical care, at Ipswich, Addenbrooke’s and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital”.

James Paget chair Anna Davidson said: “We are very pleased to have appointed Jo to the role of chief executive of the James Paget, and look forward to her leading the trust in the future.

“Throughout a rigorous recruitment process, we were particularly impressed with Jo’s dedication and commitment to the James Paget, the leadership she has shown in her current role of chief operating officer in steering the hospital through the challenges of the pandemic, and her clear vision towards improving the quality of care for our patients.”

Ms Segasby said: “I am committed to engaging with staff across the hospital and working with other organisations across Norfolk and Waveney so that we can continue to deliver the best possible care for our patients on our journey to becoming an outstanding trust.”