Dr Jim Gardner is new Non-Executive Director
The Deputy Head of the University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) School of Medicine has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director to the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Board.
Dr Jim Gardner, a GP who has worked at UCLan since 2016, has extensive executive director experience having been North Lancashire Primary Care Trust’s Medical Director from 2007 to 2012.
He then became the Medical Director for the Lancashire Area Team of NHS England and was involved in the CQC and the Keogh investigations into the Trust in 2014.
Prior to those roles Jim worked for Blackpool Primary Care Trust as a GP with Special Interest in Public Health.
Jim said: “I have worked in and around the Blackpool area since about 2007 and am very fond of this Trust and well aware of the challenges it faces.
“I see my role as helping the Trust develop its clinical strategy and place this within the context of the wider health economies of the Fylde Coast and then Lancashire and South Cumbria”.
“This is a complex organisation but I have some useful insight into the role of regulators such as the GMC and CQC, so I am hoping I can bring that broad knowledge and managerial experience to the role.
“I am really looking forward to meeting everyone and working as part of the Board.’’
The Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Board of Directors said it welcomed Jim to the Board and was “Looking forward to working with him.”
A spokesperson commented: “He has extensive experience of working in the health service and I am sure he will have a major influence on the Board.”
Jim is also a Trustee on the Board of St John’s Hospice in Lancaster where he chairs their ‘Care, Quality and Services Committee’.