A DAMNING report which slammed Manchester's mental health services for undergoing too many changes in leadership has prompted the latest chief executive to quit, the MEN can reveal.
Sheila Foley resigned from her post as head of Manchester Mental Health and Social Care trust yesterday just over six months after she signed a permanent contract.
Her resignation came in advance of today's publication of an independent report which criticised the trust for poor working relationships and a lack of effective communication.
The report by John Boyington said real progress had been made this year but suggested there needed to be an urgent action plan to make sure the improvement continued.
He also called on regional health bosses to oversee the trust, which was ranked as one of the worst performing mental health services in the country last year and then struggled with months of industrial action over the sacking of senior nurse Karen Reissmann.
Mr Boyington's report called for an effective leader to make a commitment to stay in the post for at least the next three to five years to oversee a radically improvement of the trust.
Ms Foley, speaking exclusively to the Manchester Evening News from Dubai, where she is on holiday, said she had stepped down because she could not commit to staying in the job for that long.
Advance notice
She took the decision to resign after being given advance notice of the findings of Mr Boyington's report.
Ms Foley said: "It was a fair report, it does reflect the progress we have started to make and for me that is gratifying, it has been a difficult time.
"I feel really sad I have not been able to take the trust to the next stage, I didn't feel it needed such a long commitment in terms of turning the trust around. I think we had made a lot of progress in terms of where we were this time last year and I felt I was just starting to do the job I was brought here to do.
"It was a difficult decision for me to make I was very passionate about improving services but I did not want to commit to three to five years, I would have stayed as long as it took to make positive change."
Stunned council and health bosses promised to find a new chief executive to lead a step change transforming the city's mental health care from one of the worst in the country into one of the best.
Mr Boyington, chair of the review, said there had been good progress at the trust in recent months but he added: "Manchester's mental health economy has been characterised by poor inter-organisational relationships between key partners and needs swiftly to develop.
He also said: "There appears to be less than effective engagement with staff at all levels on the part of the care trust and the PCT...
"Re-organisation and leadership changes have been evident since the inception of the care trust and there has been a lack of leadership and partnership over a strategic time period."
High levels of need
The report also found that although there were high levels of need for mental health care within the city health bosses were spending more than average, £110m in total to tackle this but without any clear benefits.
Ms Foley, who had been working on a 10-year-plan for the trust before she went on holiday to Dubai last week, phoned the trust chair Wyn Dingnan with her decision after she was given advance notice of the findings of the report and has refused to work her notice period.
She hit the headlines after sacking nurse Karen Reissmann - who was an outspoken critic of NHS cuts and changes at the trust - for talking to the media triggering a wave of strike action. Ms Reissmann is taking the trust to employment tribunal over her dismissal and a hearing is expected later this year.
The trust will be led by deputy chief executive Tracy Ellery until an interim chief executive is appointed but it is expected to be several months before a permanent boss is in post.
Paul Reed from patients group Manchester Users Network said: "We are glad Sheila Foley has gone but we hope others including the trust chairwoman will go too now so we can have a fresh start.
"Ms Foley is not to blame for the trust's problems which go back many years but she lost people's respect when she sacked a popular nurse."
The report highlighted that patients at the trust stay in hospital for longer than in other parts of the country - a problem which trust bosses say they are investigating but is partly caused by problems finding people appropriate accommodation when they are ready to leave.
The report also showed almost 30 per cent of patients are cared for in secure or specialist accommodation, they hope to reduce this as local community services improve.
Debbie Nixon, director of commissioning at Manchester PCT said she would be taking personal responsibility for working with the trust said: "This report is a mark in the sand, we are clear the system has to be changed and we will produce a transparent plan of action in the short term and work together long term on improvements."
Caroline Marsh director of adult social care at the council said they were fully committed to the trust and promised to bring in extra staff to work with managers, she said: "We must ensure patients can access good care here in Manchester when they need it, we are determined to provide high quality, high performing care, we are setting the bar high."
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Reinstate Karen Reisman and everything can then get back to normal I am sure in all her Karens 25 years of nursing she would never have approved of anyone treating patients the way the management under the new chief executive of MMHSCT have. I Karen cared about both staff and patients and and was sacked by this woman, everyone has a right to a freedom of speach especially when the cuts involve either their or their collegues positions. I wonder how much this has cost the Trust? Just think how many more nursing posts they could have created with the money this move has costed them so far!
Tell you what Karen would make a good chief exec!!!
Now is the time to get Karen back, she has been totally vindicated!
No doubt hounded out.
100k a year for what??
wasted money on pen pushers!!!!
Tell you what Karen would make a good chief exec!!!
I doubt that very much as she would lose her right to strike.
Dummies
A level head - Karen didn't strike, she was sacked.
Regardless, this development is one in the net for Karen whichever way it is spun. Let's hope justice will now get a chance and she gets reinstated so we can all move on. And let's hope this damming report prevents Ms Foley from ever working in the public sector again.
She thought 3 to 5 years was too long a commitment?? Heck, how do such unenthusiastic "halfhearted" people get through the interview stage for such important jobs to begin with?
This is nothing to do with Karen R. Nowadays, I doubt that it is that easy to sack anyone without any concrete evidence of misconduct. Considering she had the full backing of the union and media, she had a fair trial and the result said it all. Forget about the old story of Karen R, This is about the Manchester Mental Health Service itself. It is the worst trust in the country and something drastic needs to happen. It has always performed badly over the years and therefore it is not something out of the blue. Can it change for better? I seriously doubt it and not in a million year Manchester is going to become the best in the country. We will be lucky if it can achieve national average performance.
One minute she is discussing a ten year plan - the next 3-5 years is too much.
I can't stand these people. They haven't got a clue what goes on at the nurses level.
Manchesters Community Mental Health Services are virtually none-existant and patronising to the patients.
There's too much focus on sending people to park house and drugs instead of actually listening to the patients and helping them live normal lives in the community.
Karen spoke out because the pen-pushers wanted to get rid of a budget deficit by cutting community services (that are already inadequate) even further.
If the trust want to save money - how about start by getting rid of the board and let the community run its own services
I suppose ther is a "large" pay-off involved as well.
About Time too !!!
Just Made my day
I am now hoping that a more proactive listening and involvement of user, carers and community involvement can now happen within the structure of the mental health services within Manchester. That better services provision that are conducive to coping better and recovery/moving on is witnessed in the near future of this city. Rather than the negativity being put forward by stakeholders in Manchester today. Hopefully move on and up /better relationships will hopefully happen in furure??
30K a year extra for being an exceptional candidate for the post of chief executive and now refusing to work out her notice and sitting in Dubai instead......what an embarassment for those who appointed her...possibly others will follow. Some of the blame should be of course pointed at those higher up who have allowed this to develop over the past few years but who will never be accountable.
By the way mental health care in Manchester was never the worst in the country but it has been useful to say so.
This was never about Karen anyway..this is about management dynamics and lack of any strategic planning of which possibly Sheila herself is a victim too.
I have a relative with mental health problems. He does get some attention but mental health has always been the poor relation of the NHS. Psychiatrists come and go and there is no continuity of care. Nearly every time my relative goes to see a psychiatrist ( every 9 months if he is lucky) he sees someone else and has to explain things that he wouldn't have to if he could see the same one for a length of time. Luckily he has support in place but really, it's not enough.
Surely it is now time with Sheila Foley going for the Trust to reverse its decision to sack Karen Reissman. Mental Health Services in Manchester clearly need more good nurses like Karen and less bureaucrats like Foley.
The version reported in the printed MEN also said that Sheila Foley refused to serve her notice period. If that is true she should be sued for breach of contract. What sort of message does it send to staff when the chief executive can just walk out without even being prepared to conduct a handover to her successor?
Hopefully she will now retire. It is long overdue.