PROFILE: Sue Sutherland CEO, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

If ever there was a case of hitting the ground running, it was Sue Sutherland’s arrival at Poole Hospital in 2005.

Just four weeks after taking up the reins as Chief Executive she set the organisation off on the road to becoming a foundation trust hospital. “To be fair, I came here knowing that’s where we were going. It was scary, but it was exciting too.” It was a challenge that would bring together all the strands of her previous training and experience.

Sue qualified as a nurse in 1974 at University College Hospital London and as a midwife in Cheshire in 1975. Her clinical career saw her working in A&E as well as on gynae and medical wards.

Towards the end of 1979, she went back to UCH as a nursing officer, a role roughly similar to a modern matron. “I was still very young and there I was, being the boss of ward sisters who had terrified me when I was training just a few years before. But they were fabulous: they set such great standards and I learned so much.”

It was at UCH that she first met Christine Hancock, then Divisional Nursing Officer, who would turn out to be a key figure in Sue’s development. “Christine was, and is, one of those inspirational people. She spotted me and nurtured me. I was wanting to move towards a career in human resources and she gave me that experience.”

Sue soon became Senior Officer for Nursing Personnel, meanwhile doing a postgraduate qualification in HR Management at what is now the University of Westminster.

But why management?

“I suppose it was a feeling that I could influence more widely. I could go from being able to make a difference to a patient on a shift to delivering the best possible care for patients across an organisation. As a nurse, that innate value of wanting to care for people has always been what drives me.”

After time out for the birth of her son in 1985, she made a major change of direction when she returned to work as Head of HR for Marie Curie. “Working for a charity opened up so many new experiences, including working with people from industry and commerce.”

In 1989 Sue and her family moved to Devon and during the next 11 years at the Royal Devon and Exeter, she held a series of senior management roles including Director of Nursing, Director of HR and Director of Operations. By then she had the experience to go for a chief executive post.

That came in 2000 when she was appointed CEO of UK Transplant, the special health authority responsible for organ transplantation nationwide. “This gave me a real opportunity to influence the lives of thousands of individuals. I felt that this was as close as you can get to doing the right thing for patients.” Her work there led to an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Five years on, however, she could not resist the top job at Poole. “We were immediately launched into a foundation trust diagnostic process led by the Department of Health, Monitor and the strategic health authority. That meant we had to produce a business plan and present ourselves in a board-to-board challenge, making a presentation on future strategic plans after only four weeks!”

And then, of course, she had to make it happen ...

“On coming here I had taken a view about the weaknesses of the organisation and this diagnostic process confirmed what I’d identified. So I knew I would have to turn around a deficit of some £7 million, not an insignificant amount. The organisation would also have to be restructured. I needed to build capacity in the board team and that would require removing some people and bringing on others. Poole had become quite an introverted organisation in many ways – some people had been here for a long while – but most of them were very good people. By restructuring we were able to give them real jobs with real capacity.

“So we brought in a tough performance management regime with clear objectives and it’s paid off. We’ve become a successful organisation, but with most of the people who were here when I came. We’ve turned round that deficit to a surplus of nearly £1 million. Our patient satisfaction survey shows some of the highest scores in country, while our HAI rates are among the lowest. And we have a very clear strategic plan.”

No ivory towers

Part of that plan is to identify and bring on the leaders of tomorrow. “I’ve had a really privileged career in the NHS, working with hugely inspirational figures, but I think you do have a fundamental role as a leader to inspire others to follow. If we want the NHS to carry on being successful, that’s what we have to do: prepare the new generation.”

How? “Well, it sounds very simple, but one way is by being incredibly visible around the place. I make myself available to staff whenever and wherever I can. I also try and coach or mentor as many people as possible.

“Leadership is about supporting and encouraging – making people feel that they can do it. Nowadays, I tend to support either general managers or HR people, but because of my nursing background, I do understand how clinical care works and that gives me empathy about situations clinical staff find themselves in – plus, they can’t pull the wool over my eyes either!”

And what’s ahead for Poole?

Sue will continue the capital programme to improve the patient experience – rebuilding the maternity hospital, building a new day case unit, extending the emergency department. “We will keep on reducing waiting times, but I also want to put enough slack into the organisation that we are not running on a constant treadmill. I want to enable staff to get better and better, to concentrate on what’s important to patients and maintain our role within the local community.

“We’re not a perfect organisation, but almost every day I get at least one letter from a patient or family who are happy with the treatment they received. We have a written philosophy that was in place before I came here and I could never better it. The Poole Approach is about providing the highest standards and focusing on kindness and consideration ... on what our patients need.”

Come to think of it, that pretty neatly sums up the core values of being a nurse.


The Poole Approach

  • Listen to our staff, patients and the public.
  • Give information that is relevant and accessible.
  • Safeguard patient privacy, confidentiality and choice.
  • Welcome and involve families, carers and friends to participate in care.
  • Treat each other with respect and consideration.
  • Value and benefit from diversity in beliefs, cultures and abilities.
  • Continually improve the quality of our services by learning from what we do.
  • Take responsibility and be accountable for our own actions.
  • Expect staff and patients to take their share of responsibility for their own health.
  • Work with and support all organisations who are committed to promoting the health of  local people.