West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust appoints new Chief Executive (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, that runs St Albans City Hospital, appoints new Chief Executive, Samantha Jones

5:30pm Tuesday 15th January 2013 in News By Mike Wright

A new boss has been appointed to take charge of the health trust that runs St Albans City Hospital.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has announced it has appointed Samantha Jones as its new Chief Executive.

The move comes after the trust’s former chief executive, Jan Filochowski, left to head up the Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London last year.

Ms Jones’s appointment comes as Watford General Hospital, which is used by residents from across St Albans, looks to gain its foundation status.

The new status will enable it to take part in the Watford Health Campus project that aims to see Watford General totally redeveloped.

The new chief executive, who takes up her new post on February 4, cited the health campus as among her priorities.

Ms Jones said: "I am delighted to be joining West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

"My immediate priorities will be to ensure that financial and clinical services are of the highest quality to provide continued excellent patient care, to progress the goal of becoming a Foundation Trust and to work with our partners to give full momentum to the development of a new Watford hospital within the Watford Health Campus.

"I look forward to working with the thousands of dedicated professionals in the Trust and am confident that together we will continue to provide quality care and the best possible experience for our patients and their families."

Ms Jones is currently a director of private health care company Care UK and prior to that she was the chief executive of Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust Following her appointment, Professor Thomas Hanahoe, the trust’s chairman, said: "We are delighted to welcome Samantha to the Trust. She brings a wide-ranging knowledge of the issues which are relevant to the future success of our hospitals.

"The NHS is in a period of substantial change and with Sam at the helm we are in good shape to embrace it vigorously. I am very proud of our achievements in west Hertfordshire and have no doubt that Sam will offer a fresh and lively perspective to the strategic developments necessary to take the Trust forward".