We are delighted to announce the appointment of Ben Richards as Executive Director of Operations.
Ben will be joining the Trust next spring, from Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where he is currently Deputy Chief Operating Officer.
Ben has worked in a variety of roles in NHS organisations across England and has a broad range of operational experience across a number of clinical fields since he joined the NHS in 2004. Ben holds a Masters Degree in Healthcare Leadership, issued jointly from the University of Birmingham and the University of Manchester, in addition to holding Fellowships in a number of learned societies, including the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal Society of Public Health and Royal Society of Arts. Ben is a Chartered Manager with the Chartered Management Institute, the highest status that can be achieved in the management and leadership profession.
Ben is a passionate advocate of staff development, holds a masters level qualification in Executive Coaching and Mentoring and is an assessor for the NHS Graduate Training Scheme.
Ben grew up in Kidsgrove, and by joining the Combined family is returning to his Staffordshire roots, having worked across the North West, North East and West Midlands during his NHS career.
Ben said:
“I am really excited, privileged and honoured to be joining the Trust to help support the delivery of high quality patient care to the local population, of which my own family is part of. Despite the heavy toll of the Covid-19 pandemic I was particularly impressed by the commitment and values of everyone I spoke to during my application process. I very much look forward to working with teams to tackle the challenges ahead of us with the same passion and determination that everyone at Combined has delivered so far.”
Dr Buki Adeyemo, Interim Chief Executive, said:
“We are delighted with Ben’s appointment. He is someone with a huge range of experience across senior leadership and operational roles in NHS acute, community and specialist services as well as direct knowledge of the wider care sector He really impressed us with his understanding of the long-term vision for Combined Healthcare and imaginative ideas for how to continue our journey to be outstanding in all we do and how we do it. We really look forward to him joining our team next Spring.”