This week saw many key announcements for the Trust. Here we welcome the newcomers to their posts.

Here's Owen's statement issued earlier this week to bring you all up to date.

Julie Dawes will be leaving us in May next year to take up post as the Director of Nursing at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Julie joined us from Portsmouth NHS Trust.

Julie says: “It is with great sadness that I announce I will be leaving the Trust in May 2016. For personal reasons I have taken what was for me a very difficult decision to relocate to a post which takes me closer to my home in Hampshire. I will be very sad to leave Calderdale and Huddersfield which I believe is a brilliant Trust and I have loved every minute of time here.”

Julie has made a significant contribution whilst at the Trust as Chief Nurse and also as Deputy Chief Executive and will continue to drive improvements in the care we deliver and lead the preparatory work for the Care Quality Commission inspection in March 2016. She adds: “I am committed in the next 6 months to continue the drive to improve the quality of care and in particular to support and work with colleagues to achieve a good CQC rating which I believe the trust deserves and is possible.”

I am sure you will join me in wishing Julie well in her new endeavour on the south coast and thank her for the contribution she has made to build and sustain the Trust in what have been challenging times. The Trust plans to appoint a replacement for Julie and I will keep you informed as this progresses.

Whilst we see the announcement of a colleague leaving us, we have also appointed to a number of vacancies at a senior level.

Many of you will have worked with Helen Barker following her secondment to the Trust earlier this year from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Following a competitive selection process, Helen has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer, a post which complements the requirement of our recent Well Led Governance Review.

Rob Aitchison has been appointed substantively to the Assistant Divisional Director of Families and Specialist Services. Rob’s permanent appointment to the role is a real reflection of the excellent job he has done as an interim in this post since the summer.

I am also pleased to announce that Karen Barnett (pictured) will be joining the Trust in March as the Assistant Divisional Director of Community. Karen brings with her significant experience having previously worked in community services in Calderdale and in a service improvement role at South West Yorkshire Partnerships Foundation Trust. Karen’s current role is as Assistant Director of Community Services at Harrogate and District Foundation Trust. This is a significant appointment for us as we develop the Vanguard work with primary care partners in Calderdale.

This post will enable Karen the opportunity to develop services utilising the knowledge and experience she has gained in her time at HDFT.  

Jackie Murphy has been appointed to the Deputy Director of Nursing for Modernisation as part of the leadership team for the Electronic Patient Record programme for CHFT. This is a challenging and important role in what is the biggest IT investment programme in the Trust’s history and involves working in partnership with Bradford. Jackie’s nursing leadership skills and knowledge will be key to ensuring that clinical staff across the Trust are fully engaged and supported in the development and implementation of the new electronic patient record.

Following Jackie’s move, Lindsay Rudge has been appointed as the Deputy Director of Nursing. Lindsay has a wealth of knowledge and experience within the Trust and will provide positive leadership and support to our nursing teams.

As a consequence of Lindsay’s move, Tracy Fennell will be joining us from Lancashire Care NHS Trust in January as the new Associate Director of Nursing in the Medical Division filling the post that Lindsay currently occupies. Tracy previously worked at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust where she gained experience working in acute trauma and critical care and also led on a number of patient safety initiatives with an emphasis on patient focussed care.

Tracy speaks of her appointment: “I am passionate about doing what I can to support staff to have the ability to deliver the best outcomes for patients and to ultimately improve the patient experience. I’m absolutely delighted to have been appointed as the new Associate Director of Nursing in the Medical Division and look forward to starting with the Trust in the New Year.” 

We have also appointed Jo Middleton to the Associate Director of Nursing in Surgery and Anaesthetics Division from our Community team which is a fantastic appointment for the Division.Diane Catlow will be the Interim Associate Director of Nursing for Community to ably support them, alongside Karen as the Division develops.

These appointments complement the investment we are continuing to make in clinical services and in front-line medical, nursing and AHP roles. They are a positive move for the Trust and demonstrate a healthy combination of supporting internal promotion and external appointments bringing new knowledge and expertise into the organisation. They help to ensure we have the right level of leadership capacity which is essential if we are to deliver the service change we expect to see as we work towards reconfiguring services across the community and our two hospitals as a part of providing compassionate care for our patients. 

You can see copies of our CHFT structure charts on the About us page of the intranet.