Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust chief executive quits

Stuart Richardson had been chief executive at NSFT for two years

The boss of a mental health trust which lost track of patient deaths is leaving his job.

Stuart Richardson was chief executive at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) for two years.

His departure follows a highly critical report into the way NSFT managed its mortality data amid claims it was toned down to protect management.

Trust chair Zoe Billingham said he had delivered "a number of significant improvements".

Mr Richardson will leave his role at the end of October and interim arrangements will be put in place, the trust said.

Prior to taking up the role, he had been chief operating officer for three years.

The trust is currently rated 'requires improvement' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) having previously been judged inadequate.

Lost track

It remains in the NHS's Recovery Support Programme for struggling trusts, a regime previously known as 'special measures'.

In June, auditors Grant Thornton issued a report which stated NSFT has effectively lost track of the number of its patients or people who had been in contact with its services who had died.

This had been prompted by claims more than a thousand patients had died preventable deaths, which the trust disputed.

The trust's CQC rating has improved since Stuart Richardson took over its running

Last month the BBC's Newsnight programme revealed how different versions of the report had been heavily edited to remove criticism of the leadership.

The Norfolk Health Oversight and Scrutiny Committee subsequently rejected the explanation offered by Mr Richardson and his deputy Cath Byford for the changes.

Analysis: By Nikki Fox, BBC East health correspondent

NSFT has had six chief executive officers in six years and some say the merry-go-round of managers will do nothing to address the core problems.

The trust has already said the poor culture could take four years to fix and changing who is in charge has not worked in the past.

The pressure NSFT is under with not being able to meet demand and long waiting lists is something lots of trusts are facing.

Some say the problem stems from austerity cuts in 2012 and the service needs better funding, others say there are not enough qualified staff and some think many people with mental health problems need to be dealt with in a different way.

What is clear is the system is not working and those who need it are calling for NHS England and the government to get together and sort it out.

Ms Billingham said: "On behalf of the trust board, I'd like to pay tribute to his commitment and dedication to improving NSFT for our service users and our staff."

She added: "His focus on ensuring staff are looked after and valued will be a lasting legacy we are all very grateful for. We wish him every continued success in the future."

Mr Richardson has so far not commented.