DAME Julie Moore, the former chief executive of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, has been appointed to the board of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Dame Julie, who only stepped down from her role at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital last week, is one of the most respected figures in the NHS and joins the WAHT board as an associate non-executive director.
She joined the NHS as a graduate nurse at the start of a career which has spanned four decades and seen her become widely recognised as one of the most renowned chief executives in the health service.
Most recently she brought together two of Birmingham’s largest NHS hospital trusts – University Hospitals Birmingham and Heart of England NHS Foundation Trusts – to form one of the biggest teaching hospital trusts in England, employing more than 20,000 staff.
Health watchers will be keen to see what role she plays at WAHT.
In 2015 Dame Julie, as chief executive of UHB, said she was ‘open to discussion’ to extend the role of her Trust to play a greater role in the future of the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.
She has previously stated that the region needed a strong and fully functioning hospital in Redditch.
One of the reasons for the well-documented failure of Worcestershire Royal Hospital to hit its Accident & Emergency targets is lack of space in the department and at the site as a whole, a situation exacerbated since the withdrawal of many A&E services from the Alex.
Sir David Nicholson, chairman of WAHT said: “I have known and admired Dame Julie for much of her incredibly successful career in the NHS. Her retirement from UHB was the perfect opportunity for us to invite her to bring to our Trust her skills, knowledge, experience and above all her passion for making sure patients get the best possible care.
“She joins us at an exciting and challenging time and I know she will make a huge contribution to our board.”
Dame Julie said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for me to take on a new role in the NHS. My priority as always will be on supporting and encouraging staff to provide patient care which is of the very highest quality.
“I am looking forward to working with David and the rest of the Trust board, and meeting my new colleagues at the Alexandra, Kidderminster and Worcestershire Royal.”
Dame Julie takes up her new role on October 1 and has been appointed on an interim basis for an initial period of six months. Her remuneration will be £6,147 pro rata. She has not declared any political interests.
