Dr Chris Streather

South London Healthcare Trust boss to leave for new job

Julia Gregory , Acting News Editor Thursday, June 14, 2012
2:25 PM

The chief executive of South London Healthcare Trust is leaving for a new job with an academic health network.

Renal physician Dr Chris Streather is leaving the job three years after the trust which is responsible for looking after the health of patients in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich was set up.

Dr Streather is leaving the trust next month to head up the Academic Health Science Network.

Trust Chairman John Ballard said: “I would like to thank Chris for the dedication he has shown to local patients in the past three years which has contributed to very significant improvements in the quality of care, including one of the lowest mortality and infection rates in the country.”

Dr Streather, announcing the news to staff today. He said: “I am proud of the unprecedented improvements in the quality of care that you [hospital staff] have delivered during the last three and a half years, and confident that the leadership team, and our 5000 staff will continue that outstanding progress. There have been many highlights for me, but the reduction in mortality, improvements in maternity care, delivery of the hyper acute stroke unit, and our leading National position on Healthcare associated infection are particularly noteworthy. I hope these are shortly succeeded by the opening of local radiotherapy services, and the further development of elective services at Queen Mary’s.

“We have started to deliver consistently on access to treatment, and I am confident we have the team in place to make this sustainable. There are obviously considerable financial challenges still to be met, much of that is within our own gift to deliver, and we have well thought through and publicised plans for this. There is also a considerable element that will involve working openly with other organisations, and there are real opportunities here to divert money back into patient care and away from sustaining our deficit.”

The trust inherited debts when it was formed from the merger of three trusts and has to make savings of £30 million by 2014 with options including the sell off of Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, saving £12 million a year and a jobs cull from 5,838 to 4,755.

It is paying £60 million in repayments for PFI refurbishments of the Princess Royal in Farnborough and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich.