Chief operating officer leaves Medway FT

Morag Jackson, who was previously at University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust, and who worked with Medway in an attempt to help it improve prior to fully joining it, left her role at the end of September after ten months in post.

Ms Jackson was hailed as one of three new permanent appointees who would “lead the move towards a healthcare provider that will deliver the high quality care the residents of Medway and Swale deserve” by the trust’s chair Shena Winning in its annual report last year.

Ms Jackson will now take up a “senior role in Qatar”, a trust spokeswoman told HSJ.

Ambulances were recently diverted away from Medway’s accident and emergency department after a CQC inspection found a “lack of active leadership” caused a risk to patient safety.

Ms Jackson’s is the latest in a long line of board resignations at Medway. The chief executive and chair were replaced in February 2014 by interims. The interim chief executive left after only a few months and medical director Philip Barnes took up the acting chief executive role in July 2014, before a substantive chief executive was recruited in May this year.

In last year’s annual report Mr Barnes acknowledged that changes in the trust’s leadership in the first half of the year “did hinder the trust’s ability to turn the trust around with a view to coming out of special measures”.

The spokeswoman said: “Medway Foundation Trust’s chief operating officer, Morag Jackson left the trust at the end of September to undertake a senior role in Qatar. We thank Morag for her contribution in clinical services and for leading improvement across the organisation. We would also like to wish Morag the very best for the future.”