Long-serving CEO takes over neighbouring acute trust

David Loughton, chief executive for Royal Wolverhampton Trust, will also now lead Walsall Healthcare Trust on an interim basis. He has been chief executive of RWT for 17 years.

Mr Loughton’s appointment, which runs initially until July, comes after RWT’s chair, Steve Field, took up the chair role at Walsall last month.

The providers’ move towards closer leadership comes after NHS England wrote a letter to the four trusts in the Black Country and West Birmingham – Dudley Group FT, Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust, RTW and WHT – in August last year, saying they must “rapidly” agree upon a hospital group model by 2021-22.

Mr Loughton’s appointment appears to go part of the way to satisfying those instructions.

The Walsall trust currently has an interim CEO, Daren Fradgley, after its chief executive Richard Beeken agreed to temporarily lead Sandwell and West Birmingham from February this year. Mr Beeken’s move was prompted by the absence of SWBT’s chief, Toby Lewis, who left the trust on sick leave in May 2020 and still remains absent.

In a statement confirming the appointment to HSJ, Mr Loughton said: “I look forward to working with the team at Walsall on the next steps of this journey, with a continued focus on the health and well-being of staff and improving the quality of care, and outcomes for the people of Walsall.

“Another area we will be focusing on is increasing our substantive workforce, in particular within nursing, to reduce the reliance on agency staffing and improve our quality of care to patients.”

Steve Field, chief for both RWT and Walsall, said: “Undoubtedly, Walsall Healthcare Trust has been on a journey as they focus on improving care, areas of development and building on their good practice such as innovation and compassionate patient care. Their work on improving out of hospital care, Walsall Together, has been particularly impressive and we look forward to sharing that learning with colleagues in Wolverhampton.

“I, along with my non-executive colleagues, know that this interim role will benefit Walsall from strengthening our leadership and governance arrangements. David comes with an impressive track record.”

As reported last week, the Dudley Group FT has been involved in controversial plans to form an integrated care provider, which have now been shelved after an intervention by NHS England.