Nurse set to become chief exec of new Lincolnshire NHS ‘group’
A nurse has been appointed as chief executive of an organisational grouping that will encompass Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Experienced nurse leader Professor Karen Dunderdale will take up the role as part of a move to a trust group arrangement between the two organisations, which will be established later this year.
“This appointment is a significant milestone in the establishment of the group”
Elaine Bayliss
The group model, which is short of a full merger, means the two organisations will “introduce shared decision-making capabilities to enhance the services” they provide to people in Lincolnshire.
Professor Dunderdale is currently the group’s deputy chief executive and has been director of nursing at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust since 2020.
She will become the group’s first substantive chief executive in July. Andrew Morgan is currently chief executive of both trusts and will be stepping down in June.
Professor Dunderdale initially joined United Lincolnshire Hospitals as interim director of nursing in February 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to joining United Lincolnshire Hospitals, she was director of nursing at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
Before that, she held senior roles at the former government arms’-length both NHS Improvement and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.
She qualified as a registered nurse in 1991 and her clinical experience has been in cardiology. She became a cardiac nurse specialist developing cardiac rehabilitation and heart failure services.
Speaking on her appointment, she said she was “proud” to become chief executive and that there were “lots of exciting times ahead for colleagues in the way we deliver care”.
Group chair-designate Elaine Baylis, who will take up her own post in April, said: “We are delighted to announce that Professor Karen Dunderdale has been appointed as group chief executive officer.
“This appointment has been made following an extensive national open recruitment process,” said Ms Bayliss.
“Karen is currently our group deputy chief executive and executive chief nurse, and will commence her new role on Monday 1 July 2024 following the departure of Andrew Morgan,” she said.
She added: “This appointment is a significant milestone in the establishment of the group, and will enable us to further progress work on coming together as a group across the two organisations.”
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust runs County Hospital Louth, Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Skegness and District Hospital, and Grantham and District Hospital.
Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust provides adult and children’s community health services, such as district nursing and health visiting, in Lincolnshire. Its headquarters is in Sleaford.
