Lee McPhail is to step down as chief operating officer at the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust after five years in the post, it has been announced by the Trust which operates Croydon’s Mayday and Purley War Memorial hospitals.
Covid response: Lee McPhail led on the NHS Trust’s work during the pandemic
In his time in Croydon, McPhail led the Trust’s operational response to covid-19 and “championed service improvement and innovation at a regional and national level throughout the delivery of our subsequent elective recovery programme”, the Trust said.
“Thanks to Lee’s efforts, the Trust was selected as one of just six national frontrunners to help people to return home after a hospital admission, with our NHS and social care teams benefiting from almost £1million-worth of investment, allowing us to free-up hospital beds so people can be admitted more quickly from A&E to wards, reducing pressure on the borough’s health and care system.”
A new, state of the art critical care facility for some of the most seriously ill patients is due to open at the end of this year, “just one of a number of Lee’s lasting legacies, demonstrating the huge impact he has had on the Trust and the way we deliver care in Croydon”, said the Trust.
Matthew Kershaw, the Trust’s chief executive, said, “We are incredibly grateful to Lee for his dedication to Croydon over the past five years and for the huge efforts he has put in to lead our operational services and support all of us in our work.
“While we will be very sad to see him move on, the work he has done to support Croydon’s health and care system in responding to increasing demand and working more closely together leaves us in the best position possible as we head into another winter period.
“I know that this commitment to doing what is right for our patients and our staff will remain with him as he embarks on a new challenge and I would like to thank him personally for all he has done here in Croydon.”
McPhail will be leaving Croydon at the end of this year. He said: “In my time as COO I have frequently found myself in the position of having to ask operational leaders, clinical directors and their teams to go above and beyond in their efforts to respond to the challenges that we have faced in recent times. Without exception they have never failed to respond.
“I’ll be forever grateful and proud of how this organisation – and our operational leadership teams – responded to extraordinary and often horrendous circumstances of the pandemic. Those individual and collective efforts truly demonstrated the potential of Team Croydon – both with the hospital and across our outstanding community services.
“I will be leaving the Trust with no doubts in my mind on how the organisation will continue to go from strength to strength. My sincere thanks for all that you have done and all that you continue to do.”
Read more: NHS Trust names Kelly as Croydon’s new Chief Nurse
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