I’ve now been at our Trust for four years and it was great to mark this anniversary with the news that we’ve been shortlisted for the Health Service Journal’s (HSJ) prestigious Trust of the Year Award. We are up against eight other trusts, including Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

We have published our plan for the next 12 months at the same time as the government is charting a course for the health service over the next decade. Our plan highlights some of the work we’re doing with colleagues in the other acute trusts in north east London (NEL) and in the boroughs we serve.

It will be a difficult 12 months during which we will deliver a savings programme on a scale we’ve not attempted before. We will do it from the vantage point of being an organisation that continues to improve. The latest evidence of this transformation is our submission of a compliant operating plan for 2025/26.

We are part of a £6.5m groundbreaking NHS trial that could deliver transformative therapy for people with depression and anxiety. It’s a further sign of the way our Trust is raising its game to the benefit of our patients and staff.

In his first CEO Board Report of 2025, Matthew Trainer looks back to reflect on recent achievements and consider what lies ahead this year.

We’re entering a period of potentially significant change in the NHS and at our Trust, a state of affairs that is familiar to anyone who’s worked in the health service for a number of years. After the General Election Lord Darzi, a former government minister, was asked to review the NHS. On the day his report was published I appeared on the BBC’s Newscast podcast and Fiona Wheeler, my deputy, was on ITV News to discuss its findings. 

For two weeks in July we celebrated the contributions made by our volunteers, partners and staff to the work of our Trust. The events, held at King George Hospital (KGH) and inside a marquee in front of Queen’s Hospital, took place against the backdrop of recent significant improvements. 

We have a new Same Day Emergency Care department (SDEC) at King George Hospital (KGH) that saw 65 patients in its first week. SDECs help reduce A&E overcrowding and are where patients are moved to be assessed and have their treatment (including diagnostics) start on that same day.

“If I can do it, you all can do it. Apprenticeships are the way guys!” Oluwole Adeyiga offered these words of encouragement last month at a reception for our apprentices in the Palace of Westminster. The event, organised by Dame Margaret Hodge MP, is captured in this video.

Just before Christmas, I welcomed 97 new colleagues to our Trust. It’s something we now do every two weeks to ensure that on their first day they feel at home and receive a comprehensive introduction to the organisation. I told them I loved working somewhere that made a difference to people’s lives and I was pleased they wanted be part of our drive to make it an even better place.