Experienced chief moves to fourth trust

An experienced chief executive who ran his system’s “gold command” covid-19 response has been named as the new boss of a teaching trust whose previous leader has moved to Gibraltar.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust said Silas Nicholls would take over early next year.

Mr Nicholls is currently CEO of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals FT, chair of the North West Leadership Academy, and co-chair of the Greater Manchester “system operational response taskforce”. He was chair of the system’s ‘gold command’ group, which oversaw its response during peaks of the pandemic.

He has previously been CEO of Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals Trust and University Hospital of South Manchester FT.

Mr Nicholls will succeed Kevin McGee, who left this month to run the Gibraltar Health Authority.

Mr McGee had previously been CEO of two other acute trusts in Lancashire, and was lead CEO for the Lancashire and South Cumbria acute provider collaborative. That role is now being taken on by Aaron Cummins, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay CEO, the trusts told HSJ.

A trust statement said: “The appointment comes after a thorough recruitment process involving multiple stakeholders from across the trust and the wider health and care system at both local and regional level.”

Mr Nicholls, referring to the recent confirmation that the trust had secured funding for a major hospital rebuild and consolidation, said: “The trust plays a pivotal role in the local health and care system and I’m determined to ensure the opportunities presented by the New Hospitals Programme help to futureproof services for communities across Lancashire and South Cumbria for generations to come.”

Lancashire chief operating officer Faith Button will be interim CEO until he joins, and Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh FT said it would “shortly be commencing the robust recruitment process” for a successor.

Changed the headline and intro to avoid confusion.