Teaching hospital’s new boss leaves ‘after 57 days’

John Palmer took up the position at the major London hospital in May, but his role is now listed as vacant on the trust’s website. KCHFT confirmed to HSJ he had left, though it declined to comment on when or how long he had been in the post. A well-placed source said Mr Palmer had been in the job for 57 days.

The FT did not give a reason for his departure and said it would not be commenting further, however, a spokeswoman did say they will recruit a substantive King’s College Hospital site chief “in due course”.

When he was appointed, KCHFT said Mr Palmer would be the site chief for King’s – the major teaching hospital in Camberwell, south-east London – as well as deputy chief executive of the overall FT “group”.

A statement at the time added: “John will [also] contribute to the development and delivery of the trust’s annual plans and objectives, and will also be accountable for the trust’s transformation agenda, business planning and prioritisation.”

Julie Lowe, a former hospital chief whose substantive role is as programme director for the South East London sustainability and transformation partnership, has taken over as King’s College Hospital site chief in the interim. She joined the trust on a temporary basis to provide senior operational leadership during the covid outbreak, along with former strategic health authority boss Mike Farrar.

KCHFT has seen a raft of appointments over the past 18 months, with nine executive directors having been hired since last April.

Julia Wendon has served the longest among its current executive board, having originally been appointed as medical director in October 2015, but now working as its chief clinical strategy director. She is followed by chief financial officer Lorcan Woods, who joined in July 2018.

After Clive Kay was brought in as the trust’s new chief executive in April 2019, KCHFT made four more appointments that year. Nicola Ranger was brought in as a chief nurse and executive midwifery director, followed by chief strategy officer Jackie Parrott, and chief digital information officer Beverley Bryant.

Mr Palmer was one of three further hirings this February, alongside Princess Royal University Hospital and south sites chief Jonathan Lofthouse and acting chief medical officer Leonie Penna. Louise Clark, who was previously the trust’s deputy workforce director, became its acting chief people officer in July following Dawn Brodrick’s departure.

Also in the second half of 2019, Caroline White was appointed as integrated governance director. However, Professor Kay told staff in an email this month that Ms White had “resigned” from the trust. She joined the trust on a one year, fixed-term contract last September, which was extended in August. 

In correspondence seen by HSJ, Professor Kay said she will continue to work with the trust for the next month “on a number of programmes of work”. He added: “Following a review of what is needed, we will continue to build on Caroline’s work to put in place robust governance arrangements for the future.”

A KCHFT spokeswoman told HSJ the trust’s executive director of integrated governance post was an “interim role”, and the provider is currently reviewing its clinical and corporate governance agenda before going out to recruitment “in due course”.

When asked about the recent changes in the trust’s executive leadership, she added: “In April 2019, when Professor Clive Kay became chief executive of the trust, there were a number of interim staff on the executive team.

“Since then, there has been a drive to strengthen senior leadership by recruiting permanent staff to the majority of these positions.”

Meanwhile, the trust’s staff-side committee withdrew partnership working with the provider’s leadership team last month, with the committee chair alleging there is an “endemic” culture of “racism, discrimination and bullying”.