Leicestershire Partnership chair to step down

He said: “This has been a very difficult decision for me to make, but I believe it is in the best interests of LPT that I do not take on a further four years as chairman.

“My health, particularly my sight, has deteriorated over the last few years and the trust needs a robust chairman to lead it through what we know will be a lengthy and major change programme.

“The proposed transfer of many local community health services into the management of LPT later this year offers exciting new opportunities, but it will also create a very different type of organisation.

“We also recently asked Monitor to postpone their decision on our foundation trust application. The exact length of that postponement remains under discussion, but my decision will enable a new chair to be well prepared to lead that process.”

Chief executive Antony Sheehan said: “The board, colleagues and I will miss Tony’s guiding skills and breadth of experience enormously.

“For me, working alongside Tony and his leadership over the last four years has been inspirational and extremely important in bringing about the service and organisational improvements that can be seen in LPT today.

“He will leave us having created an organisation with very positive future prospects.”

Tony Harrop will carry out his full duties as chairman until the end of March and during this time will continue to oversee the major strategic decisions of the

trust.

LPT is asking the independent Appointments Commission to lead a recruitment process for a new chairperson.