Professor Mike Thomas has been appointed interim Chair of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust Board by NHS England for a period of 18 months.
This follows the departure of Shazad Sarwar who will leave the Trust when his current term as Chair concludes later this month.
Martin Hodgson, Chief Executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Mike is an experienced Chair who was a Non-Executive Director (NED) at ELHT some years ago. He has worked extensively in the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System and has an enormous amount of knowledge of the challenges we face.
“It is important to note that he is currently and will remain Chair of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals (LTH) and that this is not a joint appointment between the two Trusts. Mike will continue his tenure at LTH and pick up the interim role at ELHT in addition to it.
“It goes without saying that there will be some joint logistics around meetings dates and times to ensure Mike is supported to be as effective as possible while operating across the two organisations, but further than that our Governance remains separate.”
Martin added: “The Trust remains committed to working proactively and collaboratively in the Lancashire and South Cumbria system and the wider NHS as a whole to ensure innovation, good practice and resources are shared so much as possible to the benefit of patients and their families. This will continue to be managed through the Provider Collaborative Board (PCB), which Mike currently also Chairs.
“It is great to be welcoming Mike back in a critical role at what is a critical moment for the Trust, as we work through our objectives for 2025-26 and, in particular, continue to tackle our financial challenges with the aim of exiting the Recovery Support Programme.
“As a former Non-Executive Director (NED) at ELHT and with his system experience and knowledge, I do believe Mike is in a unique position to pick up and lead us through these difficult times.”
It is expected that Mike will take up the role on December 5.