Hospital trust boss to leave job

Ms Barnett has been in charge of the trust for more than four years

The chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has announced she will leave her role later this year.

Louise Barnett has been in charge of the trust for more than four years, most notably overseeing its response to the Ockenden maternity review.

More recently, the Trust has faced criticism over a Channel 4 documentary which exposed failings in its A&E department.

The trust said the process of appointing a new chief executive would begin "soon".

"I would like to thank all my amazing colleagues and volunteers for their hard work, support and dedication in moving forwards on our improvement programme," said Ms Barnett.

"I am grateful for the feedback, engagement and commitment from our patient networks and communities which is helping us on our journey of improvement," she said.

"There is still more work to be done but I know I am leaving the Trust in capable hands."

Prof Trevor Purt, interim chair for SaTH, thanked Ms Barnett for her work, adding that it had been a "very challenging period" with "intense public scrutiny".

Neither SaTH nor Ms Barnett referred directly to the Dispatches programme in their comments.

In the days after the broadcast, the trust apologised to patients, saying: "Even when we are faced with significant pressures, we must uphold the highest standards of care, and we recognise that some of the conditions displayed in the programme did not meet these standards."

Actions implemented

Ms Barnett was appointed in 2019, while the maternity review was underway.

In 2022, having uncovered multiple episodes of flawed care dating back years, the Ockenden report found the deaths of more than 200 infants could be linked to failures at SaTH.

In May, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), concluded the trust's overall rating of inadequate had risen to requires improvement.

Maternity services in Shrewsbury received an improved overall rating of good.

In June, Ms Barnett said the trust had implemented 195 of the 210 actions from the Ockenden report, and that it continued to work on the remaining 15.

Ms Barnett also oversaw the approval of the hospitals transformation programme.

Plans for the programme were approved in May, and will see the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) site specialise in planned care, and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital site (RSH) specialise in emergency care.