24.04.19
Blackpool FT to share chief executive with East Lancashire trust
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS FT has announced that Kevin McGee, the chief executive of another nearby trust, will take over the struggling foundation trust.
McGee will replace the retiring chief executive Wendy Swift at the Blackpool trust on 1 May, and will lead the trust on an interim basis for up to six months.
He is also currently the chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT), and whilst he will continue as accountable officer there an acting CEO will also be in place.
Pearse Butler, chairman of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust, said: “We recognise it may take some time to fill the chief executive post and then get the candidate in post so we have decided to secure an interim chief executive.
“Kevin is an experienced, well respected and successful chief executive and will be with us for up to six months while we recruit to the post full time.”
Butler said McGee will remain as chief executive and accountable officer for ELHT during this time – and that he was grateful to the chairman and board of East Lancashire for releasing him.
The chairman added: “I would once again like to thank Wendy for all the work she has done as a senior figure on the Fylde coast over the years she has been here.
“She has been a great servant to the NHS over the 40 years she has worked in the organisation and we all wish her well.’’
The substantive chief executive post will be advertised nationally in the next few weeks.
Four healthcare professionals were arrested by police on suspicion of administering poison to patients at the trust’s Blackpool Victoria Hospital earlier this month, and a further three were arrested in November last year.
The allegations relate to the mistreatment and neglect of patients on the stroke unit, and the trust said it had suspended the individuals in November and December respectively following police investigations.