Chair Appointment Case Study

The Situation

A Financial Risk Rating of 1 and in ‘significant breach’ of their terms of authorisation with Monitor, Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was embarked upon a tough journey back to financial stability by the time of the departure of the Trust’s Chair at the end of his tenure.  So the organisation needed a strong, capable and experienced leader to support the interim chief executive and the board during this period of significant challenge.

The Brief

Working within the constraints of the Trust’s Public Constituency (which limited candidates to the Milton Keynes area only) GatenbySanderson’s brief was to identify candidates who combined strong commercial skills, leadership of strategic change and a commitment to the values of the NHS.  As the timetable for the recruitment was tight, GatenbySanderson and the Trust quickly identified that a flexible process was needed.

What We Did

In discussion with the Trust Governors we opted for a search campaign without national advertising.  GatenbySanderson conducted a focused and extremely thorough search in the Milton Keynes and surrounding area to generate a shortlist of four strong candidates.  We approached people from across the commercial sectors and the wider public sector and discussed the role with more than 170 people.  The tight timescale meant potential candidates had to be identified and also interviewed during the period of the search; a shortlist was agreed 4 week after the search commenced, and final interviews were concluded within 10 days of the closing date. 

The Outcome

All four shortlisted candidates had well established commercial skills with the successful candidate, who started mid 2011, additionally bringing previous NHS non executive experience.