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Barts Health to manage new Nightingale Hospital London

NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) London region has asked Barts Health NHS Trust to oversee the new NHS Nightingale Hospital London alongside its existing group of hospitals.

The specialist hospital based at the ExCeL conference centre in East London, will care for up to 3,500 people affected by COVID-19, and is due to accept its first patient this week.

Barts Health has an established and resilient group operating model which could embrace a sixth hospital without detriment to the services the Trust currently provides. In addition, ExCel is situated within the Trust’s catchment area in Newham.

The Trust’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Alwen Williams, will be the Accountable Officer for the hospital’s services, and Professor Charles Knight, chief executive of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, has been seconded to lead the management team, which is being assembled from a number of NHS bodies in the capital.

Sir David Sloman, NHS Regional Director for London, said:

“London has been hit earliest in what is the single biggest challenge facing the country in generations.

“We are taking extraordinary action to help protect and care for Londoners, but we simply cannot do this alone which is why NHS staff are pleading with the public to follow medical advice – stay at home, stop the virus spreading, and save lives.”

Alwen Williams, Group Chief Executive of Barts Health, said:

“I’d like to thank the NHS across London for working together to provide such a superb response to the coronavirus crisis, while simultaneously ensuring our existing hospitals can rise to the challenge of delivering high quality care to thousands of new patients during the pandemic.”

The full leadership team is:

  • Prof Charles Knight, Chief Executive Officer (CEO at St Bartholomew’s Hospital)
  • Matthew Trainer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer  (CEO at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Natalie Forrest, Chief Operating Officer (CEO at Chase Farm Hospital)
  • Dr Alan McGlennan, Medical Director (Medical director at Chase Farm Hospital)
  • Eamonn Sullivan, Nursing Director (Nursing director at the Royal Marsden)
  • David Butcher, Estates Director (Estates director at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust)
  • James Flynn, Communications Director (currently working with NHS Improvement and the Local Government Association)
  • David Grantham, (Director of People, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust)

This senior team is made up of people seconded from their own organisations for an initial three month period.