Acute boss takes ‘semi retirement’

Caroline Walker will leave her role at North West Anglia Foundation Trust in September after four and a half years at the helm. She has been at the organisation in its various forms for the past decade, and played a leading role in its creation through the merger of Peterborough City and Hinchingbrooke trusts in 2017.

She will take what the trust’s announcement described as “semi-retirement” after more than 40 years in the NHS, the past 25 years working at board level. Her roles have included deputy chief executive and finance director at NWAFT before being promoted to the top role.

Prior to joining NWAFT, she worked at the University Hospitals of Leicester Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital FT, and Barts Health Trust. She was also chief operating officer at Loughborough University.

Ms Walker took on the reins from the trust’s first CEO Stephen Graves, just a year after a challenging merger of two struggling organisations.

During her tenure, the trust began a complex, clinical services reconfiguration and major ongoing overhaul of its estate in a bid to boost its bed base by around 200 beds and find a sustainable future for Hinchingbrooke. Hinchingbrooke is one of the hospitals built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete planks and is in desperate need of a rebuild.

Trust chair Steve Barnett will now lead the process to appoint a new CEO.

Ms Walker said: “It is an absolute privilege to do this job and I can assure both our staff and patients that it will be business as usual for me for the next six months.

“We have lots to focus upon with exciting redevelopment work taking place at Hinchingbrooke Hospital and Stamford Hospital plus increasing our bed capacity at Peterborough City Hospital.”

Professor Barnett said: “Caroline has made a significant contribution to the running of our hospitals in the 10 years she has been a trust board member. Her drive and dedication, along with her caring approach, has been a great example of quality leadership.”