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Joint CEO for trusts with £2bn turnover

Published on: 30 Oct 2023

A joint chief executive has been appointed across three acute trusts in the East Midlands in the next stage of their “formal collaboration”.

It has been confirmed that Richard Mitchell will bring University Hospitals of Leicester Trust, Kettering General Hospital Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital Trust under one leader from today. 

This follows the appointment of John MacDonald as joint chair of the three trusts in July. He was previously chair of Sherwood Forest.

Northampton and Kettering have been working under a group model since 2021, and, along with UHL, run shared services and appointed joint clinicians. In a statement the group said they would work more closely to “strengthen clinical and support services and will improve efficiency, productivity and quality”. 

Mr Mitchell has been chief executive of UHL since October 2021 and previously led Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust for four years.

Kettering and Northampton have been without a substantive chief executive since the departure of Simon Weldon at the end of 2022, with Deborah Needham – chief executive of Kettering – appointed interim group CEO shortly afterwards.

The three trusts will provide care to a population of over two million people and have a joint turnover of over £2bn.

John MacDonald said: “This is positive news for the three trusts. In an environment where we face unprecedented demand for our services, financial instability and challenges recruiting and retaining workforce, it is imperative we work together to deliver excellent care and improve the experience for both patients and colleagues in a more sustainable way.”

“We look forward to continuing and extending our work together to drive positive change for our communities.”

Richard Mitchell said: “I am excited to work with colleagues across the three trusts. We already work well together with jointly employed clinicians providing services to our shared communities. We will collaborate with NHS and local authority partners to improve the health and wellbeing of patients and create better employment opportunities across the region”.