NHS leadership in crisis as running hospitals becomes near-impossible Health trusts are haemorrhaging chief executives under pressure to balance the books and deliver high-quality care
Three years ago Keith McNeil, a surgeon turned hospital boss in his native Australia, was headhunted to be the new chief executive of the NHS trust that runs Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, widely regarded as one of the jewels in the health service’s crown. Three years later, he has gone, a casualty of both his trust being put into special measures, after a
Care Quality Commission report deemed it to be inadequate, and of its spiralling deficit, which is accumulating at £1.2m a week and expected to reach £64m by the end of the year.
In the statement announcing his sudden departure on 14 September, McNeil said: “This has been a very difficult decision … It is a matter of public record that we face a number of very serious challenges here in Cambridge, including a growing financial deficit, and I feel the time is right to have new leadership in place.” Jane Ramsey, the trust chair, noted that “he has shown great leadership qualities”. But they were not enough to arrest a serious decline in the hospital’s performance over the last year.
They were excellent, values-based leaders, working in tough times … The burden is too heavy, even for superwoman or man
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