Hospital Trust Chief Executive resigns

Sean Lyons, Chairman of Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “After almost two years in post Paul O’Connor has decided that he has taken the Trust as far as he can on its recovery journey and has left his position as Chief Executive to pursue alternative career options.

“Paul was appointed at a particularly challenging time for the Trust which, shortly after his appointment, was subject to the Keogh Rapid Response Review, resulting in the Trust being placed in special measures.

“During his time as Chief Executive Paul has worked with the executive team to help the Trust on its journey to sustainable recovery. He has fulfilled all of the requirements of the Keogh Rapid Response Review, including eliminating backlogs, moving key services and creating a sustainable strategy for Newark Hospital as an ambulatory, diagnostic and daycase centre.

“He has established and made progress against the Trust’s quality improvement plan, and has encouraged and supported the Mid-Nottinghamshire Better Together programme to create a successful vanguard application for new models of service provision.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to thank Paul for his service to the Trust and wish him well in his future activities.

“Karen Fisher, Executive Director of Human Resources, has taken over as interim Chief Executive with immediate effect while the search for a permanent replacement is underway.”