Chief executive of financially challenged trust stands down

Suzanne Tracey, chief executive of Royal Devon University Healthcare Foundation Trust, is already on compassionate leave and will step down immediately to care for her mother, who has dementia. 

The CEO of Devon Integrated Care Board Jane Milligan also recently announced her retirement.

The Devon system is one of the poorest performers in the country on urgent and emergency care. It is one of seven systems to be placed in the “first tier” of NHS England’s new emergency care intervention regime.

On elective care, the system has already admitted it will not hit the NHS England deadline to eliminate all 65-week plus waits by March 2024. Royal Devon, and the county’s other acute trusts, are all in segment four (the worst) of NHSE’s strategic oversight framework. 

The integrated care system has agreed a deficit budget of £49m with NHSE. Royal Devon’s June board papers state: “The RDUH share of the system deficit was a £28m deficit, after delivery of a savings plan of £60m, made up of £45m of internal savings and the trust’s share of system stretch amounting to £15.6m.”

HSJ understands that many senior leaders in the county believe these numbers are unachievable. 

Ms Tracey ran Royal Devon and Exeter FT from 2016. She was also appointed chief executive of the Northern Devon Healthcare Trust in 2018. When the two organisations merged last year, she became chief executive of the new trust. She is a past president of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

The trust’s deputy chief executive Chris Tidman will act as accountable officer while a new chief executive is appointed.

Announcing her departure, Ms Tracey said: “The importance of what we all do, day-in, day-out, really hits home when a loved one needs care, as it has with me and my family in supporting my mum in her battle with dementia. I want to be able to devote as much time as I can to being with her during this difficult time, but realise that I cannot do that and give the same energy and focus to leading the Royal Devon, which I hope has been the hallmark of my tenure as chief executive. To this end I have decided to step aside.”

Trust chair Dame Shan Morgan told staff this morning: “Suzanne’s mum has recently been diagnosed with dementia and while she has worked incredibly hard to balance the huge demands of running the trust and her family commitments, after much soul searching she has taken the difficult decision to step aside from her role of chief executive officer to be able to devote her time for caring for her mother.

“I know this is a decision she hasn’t reached lightly and is one the whole board wholly respects. Despite stepping down, I am grateful that she has agreed to continue to support me in the months ahead on some strategic pieces of work, albeit not returning to work at the Royal Devon. I want to thank her for her fantastic work and leadership over the past seven years.”