Troubled trust appoints interim CEO from neighbour
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has appointed an interim chief executive just days after its incumbent CEO announced she was leaving the provider.
Jo Williams, currently chief executive of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, will take interim charge at the troubled SaTH next month.
The specialist trust told HSJ Ms Williams will herself be replaced by an interim CEO at the ROH as a result of the appointment, but it had not named who this would be at the time of publication.
The announcement follows Louise Barnett, who had been CEO of SaTH since 2020 and led the trust through various scandals, announced she was leaving last week.
Ms Williams was appointed CEO of ROH in May 2019. This was two years after she joined the trust in an interim role on secondment from University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust, where she had been deputy chief operating officer for three years.
Before that, she held senior management roles at Wythenshawe Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
She has also worked in procurement for the NHS, as a capital buyer for Nuffield Hospitals commissioning the Manor Hospital in Oxford, and spent nine years as a buyer supplying the manufacturing industry.
In recent years, ROH has consistently recorded above average staff survey scores, particularly for morale and recommending the trust as a place to work.
Ms Williams said: “I am honoured to take on this interim role at SaTH. The trust has been on a journey of improvement over the past four years, and I am keen to accelerate progress, working with local communities to ensure patients can access the high quality services they deserve.”
SaTH interim chair Trevor Purt added: “Jo brings extensive strategic and operational leadership experience in the NHS and a strong record in driving forward service transformation and quality improvement which will benefit our patients.
”Jo’s passion for inclusion, wellbeing and involvement will support us as we continue to build an inclusive and compassionate culture that everyone can be proud of.”
SaTH has endured various care scandals in recent years, including two high-profile maternity reviews into deaths and harm, and consistently records poor financial and emergency care performance.
Earlier this year, the Care Quality Commission raised the trust’s overall rating from “inadequate” to “requires improvement”, with inspectors deeming its maternity care “good”.
However, a Dispatches documentary in June exposed instances of poor care and extremely long waiting times at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.