The Independent

Former boss of scandal-hit hospital works for group advising NHS on safety

- SHAUN LINTERN HEALTH CORRESPOND­ENT

The disgraced former chief executive of hospitals at the centre of the largest maternity scandal in NHS history is working for a major hospital group advising the health service on safety and leadership.

Simon Wright was head of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, which is being investigat­ed by the NHS over 1,900 maternity incidents including baby deaths. The trust was rated inadequate and placed into special measures by regulators during Mr Wright’s tenure.

He is now working as a “continuous improvemen­t consultant” for the Virginia Mason Institute, which has a

five-year contract with NHS England to help improve safety at five NHS trusts, including Shrewsbury and Telford.

Mr Wright, who was criticised by regulators in 2018 before resigning last year, describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as having been “a CEO in one of the most successful health systems in the world”. He does not mention the name of the trust.

His new role comes as NHS chiefs consider introducin­g stronger regulation of managers in the health service. An inquiry last year led by Tom Kark QC warned the “revolving door” for failed NHS managers had to be stopped, with new standards introduced and the power for directors to be struck off. Mr Kark was also lead counsel to the public inquiry into the Mid Staffordsh­ire hospital disaster.

The Shropshire trust is currently under police investigat­ion into years of poor maternity care, as well as the separate NHS inquiry. It has also been threatened with special administra­tion by the Care Quality Commission, which last week warned of “escalating” poor care and “unnecessar­y harm” to patients at the trust.

Mr Wright’s LinkedIn profile shows that the consultanc­y he has set up out of his Cheshire home is contracted by Virginia Mason, It also reveals he started receiving coaching from former deputy chief constable of Leicesters­hire Police, Mike Goodwin, in July this year. West Mercia Police announced a criminal inquiry into the Shrewsbury trust at the end of June.

Families whose babies died as a result of failings at the Shrewsbury trust described Mr Wright’s boasts and his new career as “grotesque” and “an insult” to victims.

Kayleigh Griffiths, whose daughter Pippa died in 2016 after midwives failed to recognise a deadly infection, told The Independen­t: “It’s a joke really and an insult to all the families who have suffered harm. When you think of the ways our children died, it is sick really.

“If that’s the type of people Virginia Mason are working with then I don’t think they should be used by the NHS.”

She said failed managers should not be able to find work with the NHS, adding: “The health service needs a big change in how it’s run.”

Earlier this week, it emerged Mr Wright was part of efforts to “soften” a damning report into the trust’s maternity services in 2017-18 after a visit by the Royal College of Obstetrici­ans and Gynaecolog­ists.

Rhiannon Davies, whose baby Kate died in 2009 and who has helped expose safety issues at the trust, said: “I was absolutely gobsmacked that Virginia Mason would work with this person. It’s a disgusting joke.”

She said he was ultimately responsibl­e for that trust going into special measures with all the challenges it is facing. “For him to now be advising others on continuous improvemen­t is grotesque.”

According to Companies House records, Mr Wright launched a management consultanc­y, Lawson and Wright Associates Ltd, in June last year, registered to his home address in Congleton, Cheshire. He is listed as a director along with a Jennifer Wright, who is described as secretary to the business.

On his LinkedIn page, Mr Wright said he has been working with the Virginia Mason Institute since last year and listed projects he had been involved with, including supporting five large hospital trusts across England.

Virginia Mason is a group based in Seattle in the US, which has become renowned for its leadership techniques and safety records. It was given a £12.5m five-year contract in 2015 by the then-health secretary Jeremy Hunt to improve patient safety at five hospital trusts.

These were Shrewsbury and Telford; Surrey and Sussex Healthcare; Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals; Leeds Teaching Hospitals; and the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshi­re. Virginia Mason would not comment on what Mr Wright’s involvemen­t in the project entailed.

On LinkedIn, Mr Wright said his current projects included: “Embedding internatio­nal learning and outcomes into UK healthcare” and “creating world class management methods to establish flexible, innovative consistent quality performanc­e”.

Writing about his time at Shropshire, Mr Wright described “taking brave decisions that reposition­ed the trust to enable it to build solid foundation­s for genuine improvemen­t and sustainabl­e quality”.

When the Care Quality Commission inspected the trust in 2018, the inspectors rated the trust inadequate for its leadership, saying: “Staff reported a culture of bullying and harassment and at times we found a culture of defensiven­ess from the executive team.”

It added that “governance systems were ineffectiv­e” and there was “a lack of accountabi­lity and ownership of patient safety agendas at board level”.

The inspectors also found staff felt “disconnect­ed” from the senior management team and the trust did not always use “a systematic approach to continuall­y improve the quality of its services”.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust told The Independen­t Mr Wright had received no payments other than part of his contract since resigning.

NHS England said it had not paid him directly for any consultanc­y work. Mr Wright and Virginia Mason did not respond to requests for comment.

 ??  ?? The Shrewsbury and Telford trust is under two maternity care investigat­ions (Alamy)
The Shrewsbury and Telford trust is under two maternity care investigat­ions (Alamy)
 ??  ?? Simon Wright left his NHS position last year (Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust)
Simon Wright left his NHS position last year (Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust)

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