Stakeholder update from Chief Executive (Interim) Fiona Wheeler: 3 July 2026
I’m delighted to have taken on the role of Chief Executive (Interim) here at BHRUT.
One of my immediate priorities is supporting colleagues to continue with the improvements they’ve been making over recent years to our maternity services.
This week, Baroness Amos published her review, following her investigation into maternity and neonatal services across the country. Alongside the national report, we were one of the 12 trusts that received a tailored report based on findings from her conversations with staff, and her work with families, some of whose experiences, sadly, came before our programme of improvement.
We are extremely sorry that we failed them and are grateful that they have shared their stories so we can learn from them.
We haven’t always got it right and the findings offer us a lot of opportunity to learn and do better by women and their families.
At the same time, I’m extremely proud of what our teams have achieved, as recognised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when they improved our rating to Good overall. The Guardian did a feature on how we ‘turned the tide’ on our previous rating.
My focus will continue to be on improving services, and as part of that, we are committed to listening and learning from experiences of our care, and we will implement recommendations of both the Amos and Ockenden (the investigation into Nottingham University Hospitals) reports.
Our new Patient Experience and Engagement strategy
This week we launched our five-year Patient Experience and Engagement strategy shaped by the voices, experiences and wants of our patients, families, carers and communities.
The strategy reflects our commitment to listening and learning to make meaningful improvements to the care we provide.
Our three strategic priorities are:
- Inclusive access and opportunity for everyone
- Listening to patients to improve services
- Shaping services together and improving patient experience
We will continue to work alongside patients, carers and our communities to improve our services together.
This isn’t just any M&S…
Over the coming months we’re expanding the current retail facilities at Queen’s Hospital, giving patients, visitors and colleagues greater choice and convenient access to food and everyday essentials.
We’re starting this week with works on M&S and Greggs, both due to open later this year.
Keeping our hospitals running in the heat
The recent heatwave brought challenging conditions for everyone, and I know many of our colleagues were working in difficult environments while continuing to provide care for patients.
I want to say a particular thank you to our Estates and Facilities teams, whose hard work behind the scenes helped keep our hospitals safe and running through extreme temperatures.
As periods of extreme weather are becoming more common, we are looking at how we can make our facilities more resilient for the future.