In anticipation of Julian Hatley’s imminent departure to NHS Providers at the start of next month, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has picked its current Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Chief Executive to be his successor.
Professor Phil Wood, who, like Hartley, will start his new role on the 1st of February, first joined the trust back in 2002 when he joined as a Consultant Immunologist and has since held both operational and strategic roles, including being the Medical Director for Strategy and Planning as well as Clinical Director for Pathology and Oncology.
Professor Wood is the former Chair of the West Yorkshire Vascular Surgery Service and current Chair of the North East and Yorkshire Genomic Medicine Service Board in addition which supplements his wider national role as a member of Genomics England and NHS England’s Joint Board.
Trust Chair, Dame Linda Pollard, said: “I am delighted that Professor Wood has accepted the role as our new Chief Executive. Not only does Phil understand the trust well, his enthusiasm to build on our strong foundations for the future and his refreshing approach to bringing about positive changes and progress impressed the recruitment panel in what was an extremely challenging and robust recruitment process against some incredibly high-quality candidates as you might expect for a trust of our size and reputation.”
Since becoming Chief Medical Officer in 2020, the trust say Professor Wood has admirably navigated through turbulent and challenging times when he led the trust through the pandemic, spearheading West Yorkshire’s Covid-19 vaccination programme as Senior Responsible Officer.
Reacting to his appointment, Professor Phil Wood commented: “I am thrilled to be taking on the role of Chief Executive of one of the largest and busiest teaching hospitals in the country. As we know, the past few years have been incredibly challenging for staff, patients and all healthcare colleagues.
“However, by working together, being patient-focused and using our strong improvement methods, I believe we can take Leeds Teaching Hospitals on to the next part of its journey and to further success."
