We’re pleased to announce Sarah Betteley has been appointed as our Chair and will start work with us next month. She will also continue as Chair of Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, a position she has occupied for the past four years.

Sarah is a lawyer with significant non-executive experience in the NHS. She has held several senior executive commercial roles at BT and has acted as a consultant for small businesses, supporting them with strategy and growth development.

Sarah said:

I am delighted to have been appointed and I am very excited about this new role.

BHRUT has already delivered impressive improvements against key performance targets and I am very much looking forward to supporting the continued focus on delivering care our staff are proud of and our patients are happy with.

I am keen to visit all of our sites and hope to meet as many colleagues as possible over the next few months as I settle in as the new Chair.

Commenting on her appointment Matthew Trainer, our Chief Executive said:

I’m very much looking forward to working with Sarah as we build on what we’ve achieved recently at our Trust.

Her experience of working with community and mental health providers will prove invaluable as the NHS shifts its focus from hospitals to the community to deliver care closer to where people live. I’m excited by the opportunity this offers us to deepen our relationships with health and social care partners in our boroughs.

I’d also like to thank Mehboob Khan for leading us as Acting Chair for the past six months after Baroness Smith of Malvern was appointed a government minister.

Barts Health and Homerton Healthcare, the other members of the north east London (NEL) Acute Provider Collaborative, were recruiting new Chairs at the same time as Sarah Betteley was appointed at our Trust.

Dame Marie Gabriel, Chair of the NEL Integrated Care Board, said:

We have worked closely with the three trusts in the Acute Provider Collaborative to co-ordinate recruiting new Chairs to each of them.

I look forward to working with Sarah to further our joint efforts to reduce inequalities in health outcomes, access and experience for patients across our eight hospitals in north east London.