New Chief Executive starts work

10 February 2020

Louise Barnett today took up her role as Chief Executive for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).

Louise has joined SaTH, which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, from The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, having joined them as interim Chief Executive in October 2013, prior to being appointed to the substantive position in April 2014.

She said: “I am delighted to be joining SaTH and I look forward to working with staff across the organisation to provide the best possible care for the people we serve across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales.”

Prior to her time at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, Louise held a number of NHS board positions, including Interim Chief Executive, and Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Non-Executive Director at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

She added: “We have some great staff at the Trust, however I know SaTH faces a number of challenges and I’ll be working to lead improvements for the benefit of patients and our community.

“I will also be working closely with our Board, senior leadership team and local healthcare partners to build on the improvements of the past few months and work through how we can tackle some of the longstanding issues.”

Louise replaces Paula Clark, who  acted as Interim Chief Executive at SaTH from 1 July 2019.

Ben Reid, SaTH Chair, said: “I look forward to working with Louise. She has an impressive track record of leadership and stakeholder engagement, and if you add to that her values and commitment to patients and staff, this makes her a great appointment for SaTH.

“Louise joins us at an important time as we work towards building sustainable solutions to the challenges we face, as well as building on our areas of strength. She will provide inspirational leadership to the Trust and strengthen our partnerships across the healthcare community.

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank Paula Clark for the invaluable contribution she has made in a short period of time.”