Leading within an evolving, integrating system: insights from an NHS leader

We discovered what it’s like to be a leader in today’s NHS, when Deborah Lee, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, joined David Thorne (Director, Mtech Access) for our September live webinar: ‘Leading within an evolving, integrating system: insights from an NHS leader’.

In this month’s #WhispersWordsofWisdom webinar, David Thorne spoke to Deborah Lee about how she and her colleagues are responding to the current challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the resultant backlog in care, and the latest policy changes. David and Deborah explored what it means to lead an NHS trust within today’s NHS and how industry can best support NHS leaders like Deborah.

Deborah Lee has held the role of Chief Executive at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust since 2016. Prior to this she was Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer at United Hospitals NHS Trust in Bristol. Deborah has also held board level and other senior roles in NHS commissioning organisations and primary care.

Deborah has twice made the Top 50 NHS Chief Executives list and has been nationally recognised by the Health Service Journal as one of the Top 50 Inspirational Women in Healthcare.

During her time with Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS trust, Deborah has overseen a number of significant improvements, including achieving the four hour A&E performance standard for the first time in more than four years. Deborah has been praised by local stakeholders and colleagues for her ability to build relationships and partnerships which has enabled her to turn the Trust around in some key areas.

We are delighted that Deborah was able to join us for the Whispers’ Words of Wisdom webinar series.

This webinar forms part of our monthly Whispers’ Words of Wisdom series, in which we have in‑depth, comprehensive conversations with senior colleagues from the NHS. We explore what their immediate priorities are, what they see as the greatest challenges faced by the NHS, and how the NHS might respond to these challenges.

In last month’s webinar, Tom Clarke (Director, Mtech Access) was joined by Dr Claire Fuller, Senior Responsible Officer at Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership, to discuss the changing world of Integrated Care Systems (ICS) in: ‘ICS: Separating Fact from Myth – Insights from a System Leader’.

For our first Whispers’ Words of Wisdom webinar, in July, Tom Clarke and David Thorne opened the series with a far-reaching discussion about how the NHS has evolved in recent months, encompassing everything from the challenges of capacity management, through to the impact of the pandemic on the NHS Long term Plan.