Labour policy figure to chair three trusts

An influential left-wing policy figure is set to chair of three community and mental health trusts.

Tom Kibasi, who currently chairs Central and North West London Foundation Trust, will take up his new roles at Central London Community Healthcare and West London trusts from 13 November.

He succeeded Dorothy Griffiths at CNWL earlier this year following the announcement of her retirement. She had been the trust’s chair for nearly a decade.

An announcement by the three trusts said Mr Kibasi will “oversee the creation of new shared governance arrangements” that will “facilitate more joined-up care in the communities they serve”.

Mr Kibasi is considered an influential figure in public policy on the left and was director of the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research from 2016 until 2020. He spent more than a decade at consultancy firm McKinsey and Company, where he was a partner in the healthcare practice across London and New York.

In a Guardian article in early 2021, Mr Kibasi wrote that he had “helped elect” Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader, but went on to criticise him for “an unnecessary war on the left and the lack of any authentic vision for the country”.

Mr Kibasi was also a senior policy adviser at the Department of Health in the 2000s and worked closely with Lord Ara Darzi on his 2008 review of the NHS. He also works for a biotech firm.

Following his appointment, he said: “I feel honoured and humbled to have been given this opportunity to help the three trusts realise the full benefits of closer working in the interests of the patients and communities we serve.

“As the ethos shifts from competition to collaboration, I’m excited to help innovation to spread by working closely with our partners in local authorities and the third sector.

“Together, we want to bring the very best of the NHS to all our patients, all of the time, no matter where they live.”

Caroline Clarke, regional director for the NHS in London, said Mr Kibasi “has a track record of impactful collaboration and spreading innovation”.

She added: “Closer working under a joint chair will support all three trusts to bring even greater benefits to the communities we serve and staff that work in these organisations.”

It comes after CLCH and West London Trust announced in February they had failed to find a permanent appointment to a joint chair role.

Elizabeth Rantzen, who joined West London Trust in 2013, had acted as interim chair following the departure of Tom Hayhoe.

Angela Greatley has stepped down as chair of CLCH after her term was extended until September as part of interim arrangements.

West London Trust is also seeking a new chief executive after Carolyn Regan announced her retirement after eight years of leading the organisation.