New chair for integrated trust

A trust providing hospital and community services has appointed a new chair.

Homerton Healthcare Foundation Trust announced Mary Elford will replace Sir John Gieve when his second three-year term expires in April next year.

Ms Elford has been chair of Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust since 2020 and was previously vice chair at East London Foundation Trust and a non-executive director at Barts Health Trust. She has also served on the national independent reconfiguration panel, and the council of the General Pharmaceutical Council.

Her previous career was with the John Lewis Partnership.

Homerton has long been the highest-performing trust in London for A&E performance, and recorded the second-highest performance nationally for type-one attendances in the most recent data (for November).

The £461m-turnover trust needs to make savings of £21m this year and its income was hit by the suspension of its fertility services earlier this year. Last month it was £12m behind its projected position but still predicting a year-end breakeven.

Chief executive Bas Sadiq said: ”I know Mary shares our passion to put our patients and the people of City and Hackney at the centre of everything we do…

“I also want to take this opportunity to thank Sir John for his outstanding leadership and devotion to the trust during his six years as chair and almost 14 years on the board.”

Ms Elford joins as the other two north east London hospital trusts scrapped a shared chair position across both trusts. Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals and Barts Health Trust will announce their own chairs next year.