Gail Richards
Chief Executive, Oldham PCT

Currently celebrating 20 years with the NHS, Gail has shaped Oldham PCT into an organisation committed to continuous development and supporting its people. Gail is confident Gateway to Leadership enhances and complements her team, bringing fresh perspective and skills: “We’ve had four very different people from the programme. All have been very successful and made major contributions. The first is now Director of a PCT, the second has reconfigured the Trust’s Children’s Services, the third is now heading up a large shared service in Cheshire, and the forth participant has just started working with us bringing tremendous skills from the commercial sector into our moves towards World Class Commissioning: a welcome addition to the team.”

Gail recognises the benefits for all involved: “The individuals want and need personal development, and the organisation needs deliverables from their significant investment. It is therefore key to agree the role up front and ensure a set of portfolios that can actually be delivered. We have actually defined a new role, and are already signed up for another Gateway member from the next intake.”

Gail stresses the importance of creativity and innovation when working with new agendas and change all the time. Highly developed communications and interpersonal skills are vital, especially in PCTs. “Our leaders must be able to deliver programmes and improved performance, and be comfortable with ambiguity – not much is crystal clear as the environment constantly changes and evolves. They also need the passion and ambition to continually improve the organisation and healthcare in general.”

Gail says “We need to tap in to a wide range of skills and understanding from outside of the NHS. That’s where the Gateway to Leadership scheme is unique, by proactively seeking out people from a wide range of backgrounds to bring their strengths and fresh ways of doing things.”

Mary Edwards
Chief Executive, Basingstoke & North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust

One of Mary’s biggest challenges is learning how to optimise the benefits of the Foundation status: “You need to develop business for local people, not just in response to DoH mandates. You need to understand where to invest more, in order to cope with more patients and their changing needs, and you need to ensure the management team are ready and equipped. You need the right blend of capability and experience.”

Mary has taken on two people from the Gateway programme so far, the first an experienced project manager from the water industry, who developed the organisational structure of cancer management. The second brought analytical strength and good knowledge of Health & Safety, applied much needed rigour to the Trust’s approach to Risk and revolutionised the Assurance framework. Mary says “To be honest her skills are generic – she would be outstanding anywhere, and it shows that you don’t have to be born and bred NHS.”

Mary feels that sometimes Gateway people can find the NHS culture and slow pace of change frustrating: “We can’t invest in change like most commercial organisations, we need to work out how to make things move. On the other hand, they really enjoy the change to a public sector set of values, making a difference, doing something positive for the wider society. That means a lot for day-to-day job satisfaction. Also, the NHS offers huge career development opportunities. If you are good you can rise rapidly. As Foundation Trusts are half way between true commercial business and the public sector, they are probably an ideal place to start for someone coming into the NHS from outside.”




David Sloman
Chief Executive, Whittington Hospital, North London

Of his current role as Chief Executive of a hospital, David says “It is a privilege to be in charge of healthcare delivery to 300,000 people, making sure they get an excellent service. It’s a very interesting place, every day is different, a new challenge.

“What we do is very precious, providing a service to customers at times of high vulnerability. Ultimately, it’s not strategy and big budgets – at the end of the day it is real care for real people.”

David hired from the very first year’s Gateway programme intake: “We had two “Gators”, one from the Post Office and one from after 20 years in the Navy.” The experience was overwhelmingly positive. “Both have come in and done really well. They’re both good at making sense of the complex world, of identifying where the power lay, how and who to get things done. Management in the NHS is not so different from elsewhere really. The only thing is, they were sometimes too keen, trying to run before they could walk. That’s something they needed to learn.”

So what sort of qualities is David looking for from his ‘Gators’? “Strong leadership and interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and resilience, motivation, the ability to keep the confidence of staff and patients, and to keep calm. They’ve got to be tough and confident, and able to make sense of the massive complexity of the NHS. Here in the NHS, if you are good, there’s a real opportunity to progress, you can just get on with it. It’s a stimulating environment with great people. Everyone can relate to the NHS, everyone has an opinion, so you need to be able to handle that. But it really matters!”




Mike Pyrah
Chief Executive for Central & Eastern Cheshire PCT

Mike is focused about rising to the challenges: “The real challenge is making sure you get the right services in the right place at the right time, and maintain quality. There’s as much focus on health as on health services, reducing health inequalities. As far as resources are concerned, there’s not so much a shortage of funds as a rise in demand and expectation.”

Mike has employed 3 people from the Gateway to Leadership programme, including one who was a manager in Retail (Supply Chain) and the other from the Chemical Industry: “Two were actually on the programme and working here at the PCT, and a 3rd has recently joined upon graduation from the programme. Both are excellent senior managers, and they provide a different perspective to people who’ve been in the NHS for a number of years. They are enthusiastic, and focused on driving change and getting the job done. They are able to challenge and question why the NHS does things the way it does. In fact, one has already been promoted.”

Having been involved in the design and running of the programme, Mike firmly believes it plays an important role in developing leadership: “There has been no problem with adapting to the NHS in terms of their ability to work with the people here, engender respect and deliver. Of course, public sector values are not the same as the private sector’s, so they need to develop an understanding of how the NHS functions, how to handle the complexity, the internal bureaucracy and local political leadership, how hard it is to challenge and change things. They need to understand that the NHS is not a business per se, yet needs a business approach.”

Sue James
Chief Executive, Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust

Sue joined the NHS in 1975 as a secretary and has had quite a busy 30+ years, moving through a variety of admin posts to planning roles and general management, before her first Chief Executive role in 1996. Sue’s been Chief Executive of Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust since 2003.

“I’ve had quite a few notable achievements throughout my career– in fact the list is quite long: I helped hospital turnarounds in Barnsley (which was one of the first Foundation Trusts) and Warwick, led procurement of a £174 million PFI at Walsall, to be commissioned in 2010, led modernisation of Walsall Hospitals, taking out 250 beds over 2 years and becoming one of only five hospitals to achieve the 18 week rtt target, a whole year early. Right now we’re planning for the future and ensuring our hospital services are best in class by the time we move to our new premises in 2010.

“A career long interest in leadership has resulted in me leading the West Midlands Steering Group for the graduate schemes training programmes and being a member of the national advisory group for the Building Leadership Capacity programme at the NHS Institute. I was also invited by David Nicholson to become part of his ‘top 100’ team advising on the Next Steps Review, and represent acute trust CEs on the West Midlands Investing for Health project board for improving patient safety.”

Sue is impressed with the Gateway programme through positive personal participation and experience: “I’ve taken part in the recruitment of several cohorts of Gateway trainees.

We currently employ two ex-Gateway trainees as Divisional Directors at my Trust and I have worked with the BLC team to develop and refresh the Gateway programme since its inception.

“It’s great to have experienced managers from outside the health sector bringing new insights and ways of working to the NHS. The best ex-Gateway managers inspire their staff and model a drive for results and a customer-focussed approach which are essential for the NHS to remain successful.”

Peter Colclough
Chief Executive, Torbay Care Trust

Since joining the NHS as a National Admin Trainee in 1976, Peter moved quickly up the ranks, taking up his first Chief Executive post at Gloucestershire Health Authority in 1990. He has been Chief Executive of three other NHS bodies since then, starting his current post at Torbay Care Trust in 2003.

Amongst his many achievements, Peter was part of the group that introduced general management to the NHS. Over the course of his career he has also helped establish Community Mental Health Services, modernise Gloucestershire healthcare services for the elderly and reduce waiting times in Gloucestershire and Torbay.

According to Peter, the NHS is currently facing many challenges. As well as reducing health inequalities, the NHS also needs to include patients and the public in the design and delivery of its services in order to engage better with these key stakeholders and improve their perception of the organisation. At the same time, the quality and clinical leadership within the NHS need to be further improved, such as the elimination of unwanted waiting for all services.

Peter was impressed by the quality of candidates that he has interviewed on three occasions, but even more so by the two “Gators” he has hosted so far: “One of our Gateway Trainees is our Director of Operations. Both have the potential to become Chief Executives.” He values the significant contribution that participants on the scheme make to the NHS, having developed skills and experience of other sectors before joining.

So what makes the ideal “Gator”, according to Peter? For him, the most important characteristics are vision and a strong sense of purpose, along with determination and focus. “Participants need the ability to translate vision and objectives to a varied public and professional audience.” The ability to work in a team, as well as personal and organisational development skills and political acumen are also vital, as well as a touch of humility!