Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust has appointed Brent Kilmurray as its new Chief Executive.

Brent, who is currently Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, brings considerable Board level experience to the role, working across acute, community health and mental health NHS providers.

He will take up the position towards the end of August, following Nicola Lees’ decision to retire for family reasons.

Brent began his career in the North East in local authority roles, before joining City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust as Head of Service Development, and then becoming the Trust’s Executive Director of Strategy and Service Development and Divisional Director of Surgery.

He then joined NHS South of Tyne and Wear Community Health Services as Commercial Director and then joint Managing Director, and was appointed Executive Director of Business Strategy and Performance for South Tyneside Foundation Trust, after leading the successful transfer of community services into the Trust as part of the national transforming community services programme.

Brent has a strong track record of leading transformational change initiatives and continuous quality improvement, working with staff, service users and partners to drive improvements in patient care.

In his current role as Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which he joined in 2013, Brent has worked with teams to embed a culture of continuous improvement across the Trust, and developed new mental health services covering children’s crisis and liaison psychiatry, working across different provider organisations. He has also successfully extended the Trust’s services, with new contracts to deliver mental health and learning disability services for the Vale of York and secure probation services for Durham and Tees.

Brent Kilmurray’s appointment follows an open recruitment process and agreement by the Trust’s nominations committee and council of governors.

Mike Smith, Trust Chair, said: ”I’m delighted that we have appointed Brent Kilmurray as the Trust’s new Chief Executive.  He will bring a wealth of experience to the role across hospital and community services, working with a range of partners to deliver services across a broad geographical area.  I am looking forward to working closely with Brent to lead the organisation in the next phase of its development, alongside our key partners, to build on the Trust’s achievements and improve services for our local communities.”

Commenting on his appointment, Brent Kilmurray, newly appointed Chief Executive, said:  “This is an exciting time to join Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Board as Chief Executive.  There is a lot of good work going on across the organisation and some examples of really positive partnership working across Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven, and the West Yorkshire and Harrogate areas.  I am keen to get started working with the team to build on this and to lead the Trust into the future.  I am also looking forward to working with colleagues from partner organisations to help shape safe, effective and sustainable services for communities across the area.”

Following Nicola Lees retirement in April, Liz Romaniak will act as interim Chief Executive until Brent joins the Trust towards the end of August.  Liz is currently Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Finance, Contracting and Facilities at the Care Trust.