28 June 2002
He also announced that a further poorly performing trust will be given new management under the initiative to second the best managers into the toughest jobs.
This means that half the trusts that were given no stars in last September's performance ratings now have franchised top managers.
Milburn confirmed this week that David Roberts, former chief executive of City Hospital Birmingham, will be chief executive of the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire Trust.
NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp said he hoped Roberts and new chair Bryan Stoten, who was appointed last December, would bring long-term stability to the ailing trust.
He added that the chief executive post at East and North Hertfordshire Trust would also be franchised as there were concerns about the trust's ability to deliver significant improvements in key areas.
Crisp hoped an appointment would be made within three months.
'Staff have worked very hard over the past nine months to improve the trust's performance, but there remain areas where significant improvement is still needed. This decision will improve the performance of the organisation overall so that it delivers the service it wants to deliver, and so that, where necessary, there are also improvements for staff,' he added.
The Hertfordshire franchise will be the last open exclusively to NHS managers. Trusts that gain no stars in this summer's ratings could be franchised to senior managers from private, voluntary and other public sector organisations.
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