Professor Ros Keeton to step down as Chief Executive at Birmingham Women’s Hospital

Professor Ros Keeton has announced her intention to step down as Chief Executive (CE) at Birmingham Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The move comes after three and a half years at the helm of BWH.  As a result of Ros Keeton’s leadership BWH has the foundations for achieving a clear strategic direction which will be realised in a number of ways:

• VITA, the Trust’s £70million redevelopment project, will bring much needed modern facilities for both staff and patients and allow BWH to grow to meet increasing demand for its services.
• The Trust’s genetics capability continues to grow and with partners from across the Midlands healthcare community, BWH is now one of 11 centres across the country leading the way in delivering the 100,000 Genomes Project. 
• Birmingham Women’s Hospital BWH is one of the 4^th highest research recruiting Acute specialist trust in the UK for clinical trials.

Commenting on her intention to step down, Professor Ros Keeton said: “It has been enormously satisfying to see the hospital and its services grow to its present position of strength, and the management team I have worked with are very well placed to ensure that women’s health services in Birmingham remain the best in the UK.

“This is a personal decision and I feel the time is right. The VITA planning application has been approved.  The Trust has a very strong management team who can continue my work, and who are committed to making sure that the future merger with Birmingham Children’s Hospital, for which I have worked so hard over the last few years, will be completed efficiently.   On a personal level, I want to take advantages of the many opportunities open to someone with clinical CE’s experience.”

Elisabeth Buggins, Chair of Birmingham Women’s NHS FT, said “We have accepted Ros’ decision with real regret but we understand her decision.

“Ros’ legacy is the fulfilment of a promise to make BWH a leading provider of a specialist range of services.   She has developed both our Genetics and Research and Development credentials as well as led the plans to maintain and develop services to meet growing demand for women and family centred services (VITA).  She has also played a key role in our negotiations with Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

“As a result of Ros’ leadership BWH is among the top performing  NHS Trusts for healthcare standards including Patient Led Assessment of Care Environment; quality of care, CQC and national food hygiene standards.  During her time as Chief Executive, our Genetics laboratories were assessed against international standards and became one of only a handful to be accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (ISO15189).

“We have begun the process to consider our options to ensure Ros’ legacy is built upon.  The fact that she has built a strong management team, completely committed to ensuring the smooth running of the hospital while her replacement is chosen means patients will see no difference in the services offered by the hospital”.

Next steps

As a Foundation Trust, an important function of the Non-Executive Directors is to appoint a successor to Professor Keeton as Chief Executive. This will take into account all of the circumstances of the Trust. The Non-Executive Directors will be focused on obtaining the best possible leadership for the Trust into the future.

As required by law, the Non-Executive Director’s recommendation for appointment as Chief Executive will be subject to the approval of the Council of Governors.

A statement will be made by the Trust when an appointment is made.