Barts Health NHS Trust
9 Prescot Street
London E1 8PR
www.bartshealth.nhs.uk
For more information contact: Mark Mann, Acting Director of Communications and
Engagement, 020 7709 6512; M: 07506 341416
For immediate release
MEDIA STATEMENT
After six years as Chief Executive, during which he has overseen the merger of three
hospital trusts in east London, led the largest NHS Trust in England through a period of
unprecedented change and delivered the biggest hospitals redevelopment project in the
country, Chief Executive, Peter Morris, has announced his intention to step down, allowing
the process for the appointment of a successor to begin and an orderly hand-over to take
place. Peter has agreed to continue in his role while the selection process is undertaken.
Peter Morris said:
“When I joined Barts and The London NHS Trust, I set myself a target of five years to
overhaul the fragile network of acute services that were operating in east London, and deliver
the improvements to local healthcare that were so desperately needed. Barts Health is now
well established and many of its services are achieving national recognition for excellence in
clinical care. I will shortly be bringing together the specialist cardiovascular services of St
Bartholomew's Hospital, the London Chest Hospital and the Heart Hospital into stunning new
facilities at the Barts Heart Centre, which will create one of the largest cardiovascular centres
in the world.
“As Barts Health moves towards Foundation Trust status there is a need for senior
management continuity to provide leadership for the next five years, and beyond. That is a
long-term commitment that I am not able to make and so I feel the time is right for me to
hand over to a new chief executive, and start the next chapter in my own career. I will look to
take my extensive learning and experience in the healthcare sector to help others develop
and deliver their own strategic plans.”
Sir Stephen O'Brien, Chairman of Barts Health NHS Trust, said:
“Peter has been an inspirational leader at Barts, seeing through one of the most far reaching
service transformations ever attempted within the NHS with the merger that created Barts
Health. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his tremendous achievements
and to wish him well in his future career. I have asked Peter to ensure continuity by staying
on until the summer and he has agreed to do that. Our search for a new chief executive will
begin immediately.”
Notes to Editors:
Among the achievements that Peter Morris has overseen as Chief Executive of Barts Health
NHS Trust are:
•
Top 5 nationally for mortality rates: with a Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator
(SHMI) of 0.80, the Trust is the fourth best in the country according to the Health and
Social Care Information Centre.
•
The creation of Barts Health NHS Trust. The new trust was formed on 1 April 2012 by
the merger of Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust in Leytonstone, Newham
University Hospital NHS Trust in Plaistow and Barts and The London NHS Trust,
including Barts Hospital in the City, The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, The
London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green and services at Mile End Hospital. The
creation of Barts Health was driven by the strong desire of all three trusts to improve
the quality of healthcare in east London and to support the financial sustainability of
health services at a time of growing pressure on NHS finances.
•
Delivering the £1.1bn PFI project that saw the opening of three new hospitals: The
new Royal London (including a new Dental Hospital); The Barts Cancer Centre; and
the Barts Heart Centre. The opening of the new Royal London Hospital was the most
complex hospital move undertaken in the UK, bringing together under one roof the
hospital’s clinical teams, providing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide a
health legacy to a community with some of the most challenging health needs
anywhere in the developed world.
•
Barts Health recognised as best in stroke care. According to the results of the latest
audit published by The Royal College of Physicians, The Royal London, home to the
Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU), provides the best care to stroke patients in London.
The audit looked at eight different areas in the patient experience - starting at
diagnosis right through to rehabilitation. The hospital gained 97.5% in the overall
audit and 100% in seven of the eight areas of care.
•
Already recognised internationally as leaders in trauma care, The Royal London took
a key role in establishing the London trauma network, which has gone on to save
countless lives in caring for some of the most seriously injured patients across
London.
•
Barts Health established as leaders in clinical research. As well as being among the
top performers for recruiting patients for clinical research, Barts Health is host for the
region’s governance of £28m of National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funding
and are the lead organisation for clinical research in north/north east London, Essex
and Hertfordshire.
•
With a turnover of £1.25 billion and a workforce of 14,000, Barts Health NHS Trust is
the largest NHS Trust in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare
providers. The Trust’s six hospitals – St Bartholomew’s (Barts) Hospital in the City,
The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, The London Chest Hospital in Bethnal
Green, Newham University Hospital in Plaistow, Mile End Hospital and Whipps Cross
University Hospital in Leytonstone – and its community health services for Tower
Hamlets, deliver high quality compassionate care to the 2.5 million people of east
London and beyond. Barts Health is founding partner in University College London
Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. The trust with its main academic partner
Queen Mary University of London, has a NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research
Unit, is a CRUK Centre of Excellence, and hosts an NIHR CLAHRC and the North
Thames Clinical Research Network.
Contact:
Mark Mann, Acting Director of Communications and Engagement, Barts Health NHS Trust:
020 7709 6512; M: 07506 341416
- Ends Barts Health NHS Trust
With a turnover of £1.25 billion and a workforce of 14,000, Barts Health NHS Trust is the
largest NHS trust in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers. The trust’s
six hospitals – St Bartholomew’s (Barts) Hospital in the City, The Royal London Hospital in
Whitechapel, The London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, Newham University Hospital in
Plaistow, Mile End Hospital and Whipps Cross University Hospital in Leytonstone – deliver
high quality compassionate care to the 2.5 million people of east London and beyond.