Experienced leader chosen to replace 40-year CEO
A trust chief executive with more than 30 years’ experience in healthcare has been chosen to replace one of the longest-serving leaders the NHS has seen.
Joanne Chadwick-Bell, currently chief executive of East Sussex Healthcare Trust, will become group CEO of Royal Wolverhampton Trust and Walsall Healthcare Trust in January.
She will take over from former North West Anglia Foundation Trust CEO Caroline Walker, who came out of retirement earlier this year to become interim leader for both Black Country trusts. Ms Walker will remain as interim until Ms Chadwick-Bell joins the trusts.
Recruitment of a substantive group CEO comes after the retirement of long-serving leader David Loughton, who led RWT for nearly 20 years and WHT for two.
At the time of his retirement, he had been an NHS chief executive for 40 years. While in the role, it emerged Mr Loughton was the NHS’s highest-paid CEO in 2021-22.
Meanwhile, East Sussex’s deputy chief executive Steve Aumayer, will take over as interim CEO after Ms Chadwick-Bell departs, while the trust finalises recruitment for a new substantive CEO, a ESHT spokesperson said.
Ms Chadwick-Bell began her NHS career working in pharmacy at Eastbourne District General Hospital in 1989 and has worked in both ambulance and acute proider trusts.
She progressed to senior leadership roles in the provider sector before moving into the independent sector in 2013, becoming regional director for Care UK.
Returning to the NHS in 2016, she became chief operating officer at ESHT before becoming deputy CEO in 2019, acting CEO in 2020 and substantive in 2021.
The two Black Country trusts also share a chair, former NHS England chief executive Sir David Nicholson, as well as a CEO.
Sir David said: “I know that her skills and wealth of experience will be hugely beneficial in supporting us with our next steps and I’m sure that with the support of the trust board, the executive team and colleagues, she will build on the achievements of both organisations.’’
Ms Chadwick-Bell will be relocating to the West Midlands to take up the role in January.
She added: “I recognise this role is a huge privilege and I am really looking forward to meeting and working with Wolverhampton and Walsall colleagues and stakeholders across the Black Country system.
“Every part of the NHS is under significant pressure at the moment and Wolverhampton and Walsall are no exception. When I join the trusts in January, I’ll be focusing on making sure that we look after our patients and our staff to the highest standards against this challenging backdrop.”