Posted on Wednesday 1st June 2011
Carole Heatly
Carole Heatly, the Chief Executive of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, is to take up a new post with Advancing Quality Alliance North West (AQuA) - the health care quality improvement organisation.
AQuA is a new NHS organisation, set up by primary care and acute hospital trusts, to spread best practice and improve the quality of health services. Carole will join in an Associate capacity to lead the work to develop integrated care between acute hospitals and GPs right across the region.
David Fillingham, AQuA’s Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that Carole will be joining AQuA in an Associate capacity to lead our work on integrated care. This is a critical area for the NHS in the North West and it is a great boost to have someone with Carole’s skills and experience helping to take it forward. “
Carole joined North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust on 1 September 2008 and has done much to progress the quality of the hospitals in north Cumbria.
Earlier this month, the Trust was named one of the 40 top hospital trusts in the country for the third year running. These awards celebrate excellence and are based on the evaluation of 21 key performance indicators covering safety, clinical effectiveness, health outcomes, efficiency, patient experience and quality of care.
The Trust has been a consistent high-performer in the area of delivering patient quality targets and is one of the best performing trusts in the North West.
Carole has also been instrumental in moving forward the redevelopment of West Cumberland Hospital and securing capital investment for the significant rebuild of the hospital. Just six months after taking up her role in north Cumbria, she announced that she would progress plans for the redevelopment and establish a project team to move it forward.
In an announcement to staff today, Chairman Mr Mike Little paid tribute to the ‘’enormous and significant contribution’’ that Carole has made to hospital services throughout north Cumbria.
He commented: “We shall be extremely sorry to lose a Chief Executive of Carole’s calibre and professional standing. She has made an enormously valuable and significant contribution during her time with our Trust and is universally respected for the skill, dedication and flair she has brought to our hospitals.
“We understand her decision to move to this new role and wish her well in continuing to move health services forward for patients across the North West.”
Carole said: “I have always had the utmost respect for our staff and it will be a great pull to leave them. However, I know that I am leaving at a time when the Trust can move forward to continue to provide quality healthcare to patients and achieve Foundation Trust status. Patient safety and care will remain the top priority for the Trust.”
Dr Neil Goodwin CBE, former Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority, will be the Interim Chief Executive from Monday 6 June 2011 and will move forward the Trust’s plans to become part of an existing NHS Foundation Trust.