Published: Thursday, 15th October, 2009 12:15pm

Rescue Plan for Hospital Trust

by Rose Harland

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A hospital trust has been forced to appoint a new chairman after serious questions were raised over its financial performance.

NHS watchdog Monitor ordered Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to appoint an interim chairman with immediate effect after the resignation of Dr Tim Lincoln.

Monitor used formal powers of intervention on Tuesday, October 13, to make the appointment after stating that the Trust's recovery plan was not robust enough and that it needed to strengthen its clinical leadership.

A statement from Monitor said: "Our objective in taking this regulatory action is to ensure that the foundation trust is well led in order to provide safe, high quality care for patients.

"We have taken swift action to appoint Chris Langley as interim chairman and require a substantive appointment to the role of interim medical director in order to put in place the strategic and operational leadership needed to stabilise the Trust and assist in its successful recovery."

In July 2009, Monitor found the Trust, which runs Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, was in significant breach of the terms of their 'Authorisation' - which gives them the right to run an NHS trust - because of a rapid decline in financial and operational performance.

Last month The Villager reported the trust had a deficit of £20m, which health chiefs planned to reduce to £9.9m by cutting costs such as hiring fewer agency staff.

Although the Trust submitted a recovery plan at a meeting on Thursday, October 8, Monitor's board said it was not robust enough and the Trust needed to strengthen its clinical leadership.

Mr Langley, a non-executive Director of North Middlesex University Hospitals NHS trust, said; "I am looking forward to the challenges ahead and I am confident we can deliver the tough demands of the turnaround programme, without compromising patient safety."

Heatherwood and Wexham Park has stressed that Monitor's actions are unrelated to the Trust's rating of 'Fair' for quality of services and financial management in the Care Quality Commission's Standards for better health ratings which were announced yesterday (Thursday).