We are pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Oliver as our new Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Chris will step up from his current Deputy Chief Executive Officer role at the Trust from Monday, October 3rd, replacing CEO Caroline Donovan who is moving into a national role at NHS England.

David Eva, Chair of LSCft said:

“Chris steps up into this Interim CEO role at a really important time for the organisation. His wealth of NHS experience will be invaluable as we continue to build on the foundations already laid over the past couple of years by further improving the quality of care for our patients.”

Chris joined LSCft in July 2020 as Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive. As a proud equality, diversity and inclusion champion, he has a track record of driving performance and delivering results against a background of service development and improvement, which has enabled him to successfully lead healthcare staff in a variety of challenging environments.

Prior to joining the organisation, Chris has an established career in senior leadership roles having worked in the NHS for over 20 years, including at Mid Cheshire Hospitals and earlier at Wirral University Teaching Hospital.

On his appointment, Chris said:

 "I’m really grateful to have been given this opportunity; to further drive improvements across the organisation and to deliver a great service to our patients and service users day in, day out.

“I would like to say thank you to Caroline for the commitment she has shown to our service users, colleagues and carers over the last three years. I wish her all the very best in her new role with NHS England and for her upcoming retirement.

"Although the challenges the NHS faces are very real, this remains a promising time for LSCft as we continue on our improvement journey by working alongside our wider health and care partners within Lancashire and South Cumbria.”

Chris will remain as Interim CEO until a formal permanent appointment is made into the Chief Executive Officer role in due course. David Fearnley, the current Chief Medical Officer at LSCft, will also become Deputy CEO.

Further changes to the Executives’ portfolios will include:

  • Transformation will transfer to Chief Operating Officer Emma McGuigan
  • Commissioning and Performance will transfer to Chief Compliance and Improvement Officer Ursula Martin