NHS trust boss to step down Hospitals boss to take up university post after seeing through health merger
THE head of a major NHS trust in Birmingham is stepping down from her role following the merger of local healthcare services.
Dame Julie Moore will leave University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust later this year and take up a new post leading healthcare systems at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG).
In a letter to staff, Dame Julie said she had planned to retire two years ago but wanted to see through the merger of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham with Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, something she called “the right way for health services to develop in our area”.
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust is now responsible for Good Hope, Heartlands, Queen Elizabeth and Solihull hospitals along Solihull Community Services and Birmingham Chest Clinic.
Dame Julie, who spent 12 years in post, said: “I am immensely proud of all we have achieved for our patients.
“When I arrived here, there was a huge surface car park where the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham now stands.
“We now treat more than double the amount of patients we did back then and we have an enviable reputation for the quality of care we give.
“The new organisation will be able to deliver high-quality services equitably to all the populations we serve while enabling the best use of all our resources.
“The process of bringing the organisations together has not been straightforward and has taken a lot longer than anybody anticipated.
“But it has finally happened and the real work of delivering the benefits from the merger begins.
“It is, therefore, now time I hand on the reins of this single organisation to a successor.”
She added: “I had originally intended to retire two years ago but agreed to stay on to bring together our hospital services across Birmingham and Solihull as I believe the resulting benefits will be so significant.”
A leaving date has not been confirmed and the trust’s board is now making arrangements to appoint her successor.
Dame Julie is due to start her new post with WMG in October where she will be professor of healthcare systems.
Her role will see her leading a range of research and education projects, including collaborations with the NHS.
She has been an honorary professor at WMG, which is part of University of Warwick, since 2013 and has delivered three lectures on topics such as ‘Is the NHS succeeding or failing?’
Dame Julie is also a director of the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation and spent ten years as a nurse in clinical practice before moving into management.
She became a director of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 1998 before moving to Birmingham in 2002 and being made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2012.
She added: “I am thrilled to be joining WMG and the university and to have this opportunity to continue improving healthcare in this new venture.”