Trust names successor to chief executive on NHSI secondment

Richard Sunley took up the role at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation yesterday.

He fills in for Karen Jackson, who is on a six month secondment to NHS Improvement to advise on emergency care, which was announced in January.

Mr Sunley worked his way up through the ranks from a clerical worker to manager and director, including being acting chief executive at East Sussex Healthcare Trust; deputy chief executive and chief operating officer at East Sussex Heathcare Trust; and chief executive at the former Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare Trust.

He said: “There are challenging times ahead for the NHS and the trust and I look forward to working with staff and stakeholders to ensure we continue to build confidence in our services and meet the needs of our patients and local community.”

The trust said Mr Sunley was taking up the position while Ms Jackson was on secondment.

Ms Jackson, who has led the trust since 2010, will spend six months advising and supporting NHSI on urgent care issues, including the emergency care improvement programme.

She leaves the trust two months after it experienced a cyber attack that led to 2,800 appointments being cancelled as the trust shutdown its computer systems.

It was the third time in less than a year outpatient appointments had caused concerns for the trust, with two serious incidents being declared over 12 months due to overdue follow-up appointments.

The trust was warned about “unacceptable” delays after 30,000 patients had overdue consultations in 2015 by the Care Quality Commission in an inspection report in April, and was rated requires improvement. The trust came out of special measures in April 2014.

However, similar problems emerged at the trust – which runs hospitals in Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole – in October when more than 22,600 people were overdue a follow-up outpatient appointment.