Dear colleague
We are pleased to update you on further positive developments at our Trust.
As you know, our process of recovery involves the creation of a turnaround plan. We want our
hospitals to be the best – delivering excellent, compassionate care to local people.
As we have been developing the future plans, it has become clear that the current leadership
of the organisation needs to be transformed. We have talked with many of you about the
previous disconnect we found between clinical staff and management in making decisions at
the Trust. Today, we want to tell you how we plan to work with you to provide the foundation
for improving patient care by transforming the way the divisions are led across the Bay.
Our nurses, doctors, midwives and allied health professionals see our patients, day in and
day out – they are the best people to plan the services around the needs of our patients. We
want to empower clinicians to deliver the Trust’s strategy supported by strong management
arrangements, with clear accountability to the Trust Board.
We also want to bring Clinical Commissioning Groups into the heart of decision making at the
Trust and the divisions will work closely with them to review clinical services across the Bay.
We need to ensure that we use our resources effectively to deliver high quality, safe services,
as close to where people live as possible. We also want to provide high quality cross Bay
services, with cross Bay standards of care.
These are significant changes but we believe they are essential to enable us to provide an
excellent service to our population.
The changes are based on a set of values that we have been developing following
discussions with staff, Governors and our commissioners.
We are going to move from three to five clinical divisions. Each of the divisions will be led by
a team comprising a Clinical Director; a senior nurse, midwife and/ or other allied health
professionals; and a General Manager. The Divisional Clinical Director will lead the team.
The divisions will also have Clinical Leads for each speciality who will have a more significant
role than at present.
The five divisions are Women and Children’s; Surgery and Critical Care; Clinical Support
Services; Medicine – acute services; and Medicine – non-acute services.
The Trust’s Medical Director will also be supported by two Associate Medical Directors, based
at Furness General Hospital and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
The Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery will work alongside and very much in
partnership with the Medical Director to provide the professional leadership and responsibility
for their respective professions. She will also have professional responsibility for two new
Deputy Chief Nurses and five Assistant Chief Nurses.
These changes, together with new robust governance arrangements will lay the foundations
to achieve improved, safe, high quality care for our patients.
We will also write to you again very shortly as we are in the process of finalising details of how
we intend to share, discuss and receive feedback on our turnaround plan with you.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours faithfully,
Sir David Henshaw Eric Morton
Interim Chair Interim Chief Executive