Boss of troubled health trust steps down as part of merger scheme

Richard Sunley, who became the sixth chief executive in seven years when he arrived at Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust in 2009, will next month take up a secondment in Hull.

The Scarborough trust, which also runs Bridlington’s hospital, faces a takeover by York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as part of efforts to secure key services in the area.

All NHS trusts are being required to become elite foundation trusts by 2013 but there is no prospect of Scarborough achieving the status because of doubts about its ability to secure clinically and financially sustainable services.

NHS bosses said plans to integrate Scarborough and York into a single organisation were “progressing well”.

But to enable York to move forward with its plans, Mr Sunley is stepping down and would take up a secondment at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust in March.

Mike Proctor, deputy chief executive at York, is set to become acting chief executive.

Sir Michael Carlisle, chairman of the Scarborough trust, said Mr Proctor would “provide leadership to the integration process and continue the positive work that has already begun with consultants, executive colleagues and other staff”.

He praised Mr Sunley for his achievements in improving the trust’s clinical and financial performance. Mortality rates had improved significantly and it had achieved financial balance two years running.

Mr Sunley said: “I’m very proud of what the trust has achieved.

“The focus has now got to be on leading this trust into a formal partnership with York, with the aim of delivering a comprehensive set of high quality services for patients.”

He will become director of service transformation in Hull charged with looking at how to redesign services in the city’s hospitals.