Message from the Chair
Deputy CEO Prof John Howarth leaves trust to lead GP not for profit organisation
Professor John Howarth MBE, our deputy CEO, is leaving the trust after nearly 10 years at board level in North Cumbria. Before that he was clinical director for our community services and has been a local clinician for 36 years.
John has been instrumental in our work to integrate care across our systems over many years, playing a significant role in the merger and leading our response to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year.
John set up set up North Cumbria Primary Care which is a not for profit social enterprise covering 11 general practices. He had planned to return to work in primary care but the coronavirus pandemic intervened. John stepped up to lead our first phase response bringing his skills (he has a Fellowship in Public Health) and experience (in the past he worked in 13 conflict zones including responses to outbreaks of Lassa Fever, Cholera, Malaria and TB) to bear in North Cumbria.
Prof Howarth said ‘I would like to thank the fantastic colleagues and friends in the trust for their support over the years. I have always been passionate about serving our local communities and care deeply about addressing inequality and looking after our most vulnerable. My new role as CEO of North Cumbria Primary Care which will serve about a third of our population will enable me to continue this work. I will remain a great friend and ally of the trust and look forwards to close partnership working – we have already created and host a number of joint roles between primary and secondary care’.
As Chair, I would like to personally thank him for his many years’ service to the communities of Cumbria who have benefited from his work. We wish him all the best and look forward to working with him as part of the wider system
Peter Scott
Interim Chair