The Trust’s Chief Executive, Kathryn Thomson, recently announced her plans to retire, after nearly 40 years in the NHS of which 15 have been spent as CEO at Liverpool Women’s. Kathy will be leaving the Trust at the end of 2023.
We have been clear for some time about our preferred future direction of travel for the Trust, namely a closer collaboration with the large acute provider of services in the city as we believe this will support the long term clinical and financial sustainability of services for the benefit of women, babies and others who access our services.
Liverpool Women’s has secured agreement with NHS Cheshire & Merseyside on our ambition to move to a shared CEO model. The Trust and Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LUHFT) have reached agreement to announce a shared Chief Executive.
This is a positive step in providing ongoing stability for Liverpool Women’s. James Sumner will remain Chief Executive of LUHFT and will assume the role of Interim Chief Executive at Liverpool Women’s following Kathryn Thomson’s retirement.
Following this agreement, the Board of Liverpool Women’s has stood down its recruitment process for a new Chief Executive.
James brings with him knowledge of the Liverpool health system, an understanding of our current challenges and experience in setting direction, embedding improvement and developing culture.
The Trusts will continue to function as two separate organisations, collaborating as we have been doing for some time.
The details of the transition and specific timescales are now being finalised and we will share more information when we have the detail.
Robert Clarke
Trust Chair