ONE of Kevin McGee’s priorities will be ‘putting an arm around’ beleaguered staff at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, after what has been the most difficult year in the organisation’s history.

The numerous problems at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General have been well-documented, but the 52-year-old is adamant that the underlying services are ‘very good’, and one of his first jobs will be ‘telling staff how good they are’.

The hospitals were placed in special measures last summer after NHS inspectors made wide-ranging criticisms of the way they were run over several years, but they have since made some key improvements under the interim leadership of the now departed Jim Birrell, including the recruitment of nearly 500 extra staff.

The trust was released from special measures in July, although it was still told it ‘required improvement’.

Patients, staff and campaigners have all cited the lack of stable leadership as one of the main problems, so they will be pleased to hear the sixth chief executive in eight years plans to stick around.

Mr McGee, originally from the Wirral, said he will judge his success on ‘whether I’m still here in five, ten years or longer’.

He added: “There’s a lot of good staff here who work incredibly hard and a lot of the building blocks are in place, but it needs some clear direction and stable leadership.

“There are still three other board positions that need to be filled on a permanent basis and we’ll look to do that very quickly.

“I get the impression that the services and staff here need an arm around them and to be given a confidence boost, because I don’t think they realise how good they are.”

His initial plans will include a potential doubling in size of the 40-bed multi-assessment unit (MAU) at the Royal Blackburn. This should improve the flow of patients through the emergency department by giving patients a bed and full assessment, while avoiding hastily arranged or inappropriate transfers to a ward.

The former accountant has joined East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) from George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, which was also put into special measures last year, although it had a long history of higher than expected death rates before Mr McGee took over in 2011.

He led an impressive improvement programme which has reduced the mortality rates to within the expected range, and inspectors awarded the trust a ‘good’ rating in July.

When asked why he wanted to move to another so-called ‘failing trust’, he said: “Who wouldn’t want to take this job?

“It’s an honour and a privilege to come to such a great hospital trust and I don’t take it lightly.

“It’s got everything here – good community services and acute hospitals, staff that are totally committed and a community that’s engaged in the hospital and its services.

It’s got everything to be successful.”

He also stressed that several of the trust’s services already have ‘great reputations’.

These include the award-winning maternity services, the specialist vascular care at Blackburn and day surgery at Burnley.

He added: “I’ve really enjoyed the first week and it’s a pleasure to be here.

“Everybody’s been incredibly warm, friendly and welcoming and I’ll be getting round all the sites in the next week.”

Although he is a trained accountant and began his NHS career as a finance director, the dad-of-four insisted he’s not just a ‘money man’.

He added: “I think what I’ve got is a wide range of skills and experience.

“I’ve been a chief executive and also a chief operations officer.

“I know the day-to-day running of a hospital and I’ve had that call at 3am saying ‘we’ve got no beds’.

“I’ve got a social conscience and I’ve also worked on the commissioning side, so I know how the NHS works.”

Mr McGee will commute to work from his home in Warrington, but said he may look to move to East Lancashire at sometime in the future.