New chief for trust seeking hospital rebuild

Thom Lafferty has been named as the new CEO for Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust in Essex.

He is currently deputy chief executive and strategy director across two London trusts: Kingston Hospital FT and Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare Trust. 

Mr Lafferty will replace Lance McCarthy, who is moving to Frimley FT as its new chief executive.

During his seven years as PAHT chief executive, Mr McCarthy has overseen plans to rebuild the main site in Harlow in the national programme to build “40 new hospitals”. 

The hospital was initially one of the frontrunners but has since faced rising costs and delays. It was one of the first trusts to publicly admit it could miss the 2030 target date. 

The trust has another major programme to launch an electronic health record in autumn.

Chair Hattie Llewelyn-Davies said Mr Lafferty joins “at an exciting time” for the trust.

She said: “Thom comes with a strong record of setting and delivering strategic ambition, implementing improvement programmes and very definitely puts the care of patients and of people at the centre of all his work.”

PAHT was also recently placed in Tier 2 of the national oversight system for elective and cancer care, meaning it has performance problems, although not the most severe (Tier 1).

Mr McCarthy is leaving at the end of the month. Deputy CEO and chief nurse Sharon McNally will be interim chief executive until Mr Lafferty joins in November.

Mr Lafferty said: “This is undoubtedly an exciting time to join PAHT and I am looking forward to continuing to transform services and deliver truly modern, integrated, and outstanding care for local people.”