Mental health chief says departure not linked to trust deaths

Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust chief executive Lisa Rodrigues told HSJ she is leaving to complete a novel, cycle from Brighton to Majorca and secure a publishing deal for a book she has written on NHS management.

Lisa Rodrigues told HSJ she is leaving to complete a novel

News of her planned departure came last week as police announced they were probing the deaths of three men and a woman in units run by the trust in 2008 and 2009.

Three of the four patients - one a police sergeant - are believed to have hanged themselves.

The trust had already commissioned an independent review into the deaths and closed one unit to conduct a full safety assessment.

Three of the deaths are awaiting inquests.

Ms Rodrigues told HSJ: “We look after 60,000 people a year and a high proportion of those in hospital are suicidal.

“We have lower than average rates of suicides.

“I announced to the board in the second week of January that I was leaving, but had been thinking about it for a long time.”

Her tenure as NHS Confederation mental health network deputy chair runs out in August, when she will also leave her trust position.

She hopes to find a publisher for her book, called Becoming a Chief Executive, which she said describes how managers can use their “female skills”. She said she may return to the health service and has “already got some offers for next year”.

In an official statement about the police investigation, a trust spokesman said: “We ensure that what we learn from every incident is shared across our organisation and actions fully implemented. In the cases of the most recent, extremely sad deaths, these internal reviews are currently being completed.

“Sussex Partnership has extended our deepest sympathy to the families of those who have died and the results of our reviews are being shared with the families and Her Majesty’s Coroner.”