11/10/2007

St Peter's Hospital

Hospitals’ chief

Glenn Douglas.

ASHFORD and St Peter’s Hospitals will be sharing their chief executive after he has been seconded to work for another NHS trust. 

Glenn Douglas will be splitting his  time between the Chertsey and Ashford hospitals and assisting Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

The Kent trust, which comprises Maidstone, Pembury and Tunbridge Wells hospitals, has been faced with some tough challenges and Mr Douglas will assist them in their work following the stepping down of chief executive Rose Gibb, who spent four years in the post.

Mr Douglas was offered the role after impressing Candy Morris, chief executive of the NHS South East Coast Strategic Health Authority, with his management of Ashford and St Peter’s.

Mrs Morris said: “I recognise that this is a busy time for Ashford and St Peter’s with the merger discussion underway with Frimley Park.

“However, Glenn has exactly the type of experience that I believe Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells need at this difficult time for them. I am confident that a strong and vibrant trust like Ashford and St Peter’s will be able to support Glenn in the months ahead when he is leading both organisations.”

Paul Bentley, who is joint deputy chief executive and director of human resources, will take on Mr Douglas’s overall responsibility as acting chief executive for the day-to-day management of the trust.

Dr Mike Baxter, joint deputy chief executive and medical director, will continue to lead on developing the clinical service model for a possible merge between Ashford and St Peter’s and Frimley Park. But there are concerns about how Mr Douglas is going to effectively manage two trusts.

The news came as a surprise to Graeme Carman, chairman of the Ashford and St Peter’s patient and public involvement forum.

He said: “First of all we do rate Glenn Douglas but the worry is that, obviously, we are at a pretty major time with the discussions about the possible merger.

“This is news to me. We are in a time of change for the trust and part of his time will be given to the other trust.”

Since working for the trust, Mr Douglas has built up Ashford and St Peter’s from a zero-starred trust to being rated three stars, the highest possible, and will be using this experience in his new post.

He said: “I am confident that the team at Ashford and St Peter’s will be able to manage and develop the trust and its services while I am assisting Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells.

“But I am not leaving the trust. I will continue to be based at Ashford and St Peter’s for half my time and I will be focussing my efforts on the possible merger with Frimley Park.”

First printed in: Woking News and Mail