Two local NHS chief executives are among the best in the country, according to an annual league table produced by HSJ (Health Service Journal).
Royal Sussex County Hospital boss Marianne Griffiths, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH), tops this year’s table.
The recognition comes three weeks before the anniversary of Mrs Griffiths and her top team taking the reins at the trust.
As well as the Royal Sussex, it includes the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital and the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.
She and her colleagues continue to run Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which includes Southlands in Shoreham, Worthing General and St Richard’s in Chichester.
Mike Viggers, who chairs the board at BSUH and Western, said: “Marianne Griffiths is an inspirational hospital leader and that she should be ranked by the HSJ as the country’s best NHS chief executive is a reflection on all she has achieved.”
HSJ editor Alastair McLellan said: “Marianne Griffiths is the first woman to take the number one spot in HSJ’s annual assessment of trust chief executives.”
The top 50 includes Sam Allen, who runs the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
She was the service director for Brighton and Hove, responsible for Mill View Hospital, on her way to the top job.
Mr McLellan said: “Marianne Griffiths has had a meteoric rise. She went straight into the Top 50 at number three last year after recovering from a serious illness to take Western Sussex to an outstanding Care Quality Commission rating.
“Ms Griffiths moves up to number one on the back of the continuing excellence of Western Sussex and her work attempting to turn round Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, where she is also chief executive.
“Chalices do not come much more poisoned than Brighton with its horrendous mix of performance, finance and governance (race) issues.
“It would be very surprising if Ms Griffiths was not the kind of chief executive Jeremy Hunt had in mind when he suggested that those taking on the toughest jobs in the NHS should be better rewarded by the annual honours system.”
Sam Allen said: “This is a positive reflection of everything staff at Sussex Partnership have achieved to continue improving services for patients, families and local communities.
“It’s a privilege to be part of an organisation which the Care Quality Commission has rated ‘outstanding’ for being caring and to work alongside such committed colleagues who are passionate about patient care.
“I’m delighted to see that women have taken the top three spots in the HSJ rankings and that mental health features so prominently.
“I’m also particularly pleased to see that Marianne Griffiths, CEO of Western Sussex Hospitals Foundation Trust and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, is ranked at number one by the HSJ.
“This is fantastic news for our local health and social care system and for the local people we serve.”
The HSJ said that the judges took account of three main criteria in making decisions on the top 50 chief executives.
• The personal example set by the chief executive. This covers their leadership style and behaviours, including approach to mentoring and developing more junior staff, encouraging inclusive leadership, how they work with their board, both executives and non-executives, and their standing among their peers and their personal qualities.
• The performance of the organisation they lead, given the circumstances it is in. This will include performance against the key targets, financial performance, staff survey results and quality of care.
• The contribution the chief executive has made to the wider health and social care system. This might be through leading on important projects, either nationally or locally. Examples include success in leading a sustainability and transformation partnership, taking on a national role such as lead for an area of care or spearheading local improvements.
Jeremy Hunt has already decided not to reward those who have taken the toughest jobs in the NHS … the nurses. I’m pleased for Marianne Griffiths, but she’s not first in this particular queue.
I fell over in Sainsbury’s Supermarket Old Shoreham Road in early September – my fault! I needed an ambulance which took me to the Princess Royal where the following morning Mr Benedict Rogers operated on me giving me a Total Hip Replacement which clearly has enabled me to make an excellent recovery – first class! The nursing staff were exemplary and faultless and very friendly. All in all an eye opener to me in my 82nd year and Marianne Griffiths is entitled to be very proud of all of them.
Since my fall in early September and subsequent Total Hip Replacement at the Princess Royal, I was forced at the end of November to call for another ambulance to take me the Brighton County Hospital’s A & E with pains in my head and chest. Following an x-ray and thorough examinations by Dr Anna and Consultant Dr Adam Harper and the Registrar Dr it was concluded that I had an infection in my upper body. A following further thorough check-up a week later by Dr Jain and Kerrie and Teresa in HCA confirmed that the pain killers and anti-biotics prescribed by A & E had pulled me through. I am not anxious to go back to hospital but my experience recently at both the Princess Royal and Brighton County A & E has made me confident of getting excellent treatment in both places. Boris’s threat of billions extra for NHS is encouraging and let us hope the threat becomes reality so that all our hospitals can come up to the same standard.
I can’t believe she seems to be proud of her position . I worked in royal Sussex hospital and only lasted 4 weeks due to the shocking management . They have total disregard for the staff.
Just one minor example ,there were 15 staff at all traveled all over Sussex during the day .So coming into contact with many people at the end of each day we all had to put or vehicle keys in a bucket / container . This is in the middle of Covid19 .
Nobody ever ask me if I was comfortable with the PPE and I had to visit Covid19 wards up to 7 visits a day .I was told that I have to visit them even though there was early anything to collect from them .
The lifts are a joke , you stand for ages waiting for the lift ,as it seems that 50% of the lifts are out of service . But body is working on them .
You wait for a lift and it arrives full of rubbish bins , then the same lift next time is a patient in a bed have also heard and read that others including members of the public have seen a deceased patient in the lift.Personally I did see that but I did see dead body’s in the car park and a few other places which struck me as strange . I think it is due to the security staff demanding vehicles park were they say rather than what better suits the situation . The hospital is a shambles and due to the fact that my management where a complete joke I had no choice but to leave .
One thing that really stuck me was talking to another worker a porter in the lift in a conversation about the working in the hospital ,he told me he had no were else to go . He was around 40 years old good looking fit and looked healthy . I thought that this was so sad and to me felt like the lack of management had warn people down to such a degree .So I left .
I plan to be complaining to the government once I get the time , which should be very soon.
I was only there 4 weeks as I said but I took one day which was out of my control . The management asked me to forward the information on how they should do the job .
I should add that I had treatment for cancer under royal Sussex and princess royal and it was excellent . And due to this I went to work in the royal Sussex with pride and absolute determination to do a good job ,I was never worried about the money .