About John Cartwright
I started working for the NHS in July 1990 as a Data Manager at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. From there I moved into Clinical Audit at North Manchester General Hospital and, in 1997, into business and operational management at what is now Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust. By 1999, and after less than 10 years in the NHS, I was the Acting General Manager for Womans and Childrens.
With an established career, I took the opportunity of a restructure to move to New Zealand. Here I was the Operations Manager for Medicine and Surgery at Northland Health. This role covered seven inpatients wards, the Emergency Department and ICU. In addition, I was responsible for the duty and bed management function of the organisation. It was a busy though rewarding role.
With my visa running out, I went to Australia doing almost anything that did not involve either working in healthcare or behind a desk. I had a very solid and successful career in healthcare and was something that I was going to return to. I was, however, officially still young by Australian standards and so decided to take a year out on a working holiday visa.
My entry into Interim Management was opportunistic; after three years in New Zealand and Australia I was debating whether to return to the UK or not. An opportunity arrived and I got an assignment at Great Ormond Street Hospital as the Service Manager for Pathology, Radiology and Genetics. This meant a return to the UK and what was to become a nine year career in Interim Management (to date).
Longer term I plan to move back to New Zealand. For the next three to four years however, I plan to maintain carry on with my interim career during these interesting times.
Experience history
Interim General Manager, The Barts and the London NHS Trust, 2011-2011
Interim Divisional General Manager, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, 2010 - 2011
Interim Clinical Service Manager, Christie Hospital Foundation Trust, 2009 - 2010
Interim Directorate Manager, Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen NHS Trust, 2009 - 2009
Interim Business Analyst, Leicester City Community Health Services, 2009 - 2009
Interim Clinical Service Manager, Christie Hospital Foundation Trust, 2008 - 2008
Clinical Transformation Consultant, CTG (UK) Ltd, 2008 - 2008
Senior Business Development Manager, NHS Information Centre, 2007 - 2008
Clinical Transformation Consultant, BT CCA, 2006 - 2006
Clinical Manager; Accenture, 2004 - 2005
Interim Service Manager; Great Ormond Street Hospital, 2003 - 2004
Year out, Australia and New Zealand, 2001 - 2002
Northland Health, New Zealand, Operations Manager, 2000 - 2001
Barnet & Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, 1994 - 1999
North Manchester NHS Trust, Clinical Audit Facilitator, 1993 - 1994
Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Data Manager, 1990 - 1993
Interim Career Highlights
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust; Interim Divisional General Manager - 2010/11.
Appointed to “turnaround” the performance of the division of Medicine; the key objectives were to maintain and improve on A&E performance, improve the financial outlook of the division and to stabilize the structure & improve the visibility, both internally and externally within the Trust. Role extended.
Key Achievements:
1) achieved the A&E performance targets for the year,
2) recovered the position on three CQUINS,
3) identified over £3.4m of recurring savings,
4) devolved management responsibility to an operational level,
5) added structure to the QIPP/CIP program,
The Christie Foundation NHS Trust; Interim Clinical Service Manager - 2008, 2009/10.
Two very successful assignments within Clinical Oncology at the Christie over 2 years as the Clinical Service Manager; both of which were extended and ran to 14 months in total.
The first assignment concentrated on day to day operations, business development and financial/service stability. Bridging the gap until a substantive Clinical Service Manager could be appointed.
With the second assignment, I was asked to return to the same role to again provide stability to the service as well as maintain performance against key cancer targets during a period of change. Service and financial improvement was also a significant focus of these two roles with the divisional CIP targets achieved for 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11. Substantive role offered.
Key Achievements
1) Archived all required financial and performance targets,
2) Drew up a five and ten year capital plan for major capital assets for the Trust (The Cartwright Paper),
3) Identified long term financial savings amounting to over £5m,
4) Completed a number of business cases for the division, including for a number of major asset items including a CT scanner, a CT simulator and an IGRT Module.
The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Directorate Manager - 2009
Appointed to oversee Theatres and Critical Care until a new Directorate Manager could be a recruited. The initial aim of the role was to "maintain" the service during the transition, however, the requirements of the role during this time meant a much more hands on and proactive approach during a relatively short time.
Key Achievements
1) Rapidly established a presence in both a new department and a new specialty,
2) Wrote and had approved a business case for seven additional ICU nurses,
3) Achieved all required performance and financial targets, including the 2009/10 CIP,
4) Initiated the business process for automated storage within theatres.
5) Established a pilot to establish the effectiveness of a new procedure (Haemodynamic Optimisation) within theatres.
Leicester City Community Healthcare Services; Business Analyst - 2009
Using established epidemiological data, the aim of this role was to review the existing health services and benchmark outcomes and key indicators nationwide. In essence this was using the principles of "World Class Commissioning" to help develop the business plan for LCCHS over the next five years. Leicester City Community Healthcare was one of the first providers in the country to utilise this approach following the production of Lord Darzi's next stage review.
National Program for IT; Accenture (2004-05), BT CCA (2006)
The initial concept of the National Program for IT, while troubled in the longer term, was an exciting proposition at the time for the NHS and led to two of roles:
Accenture: Clinical Manager - input into the development and deployment of the LSP Solution. Role extended twice.
BT CCA: Clinical Transformation Manager - responsible to LSP input in to change management activities for the 1st RIO Mental Health Deployment in London.
Great Ormond Street Hospital; Service Manager - 2003/04
My first interim assignment. Initially to fill in a gap while a substantive candidate was appointed to the role of Service Manager for Pathology, Radiology and Genetics. The initial contract was for three months but the role was extended three times because of problems recruiting and the success of the placement. Substantive role offered.
Substantive career summary
Substantive roles and previous NHS/Healthcare Experience
The backbone of my interim career was a ten year history in the NHS including three years in Oncology (Data management), three years in Clinical audit and four years in operational and business management. On top of this I have an additional two years in a senior management operational role at Northland Health (Whangarei Hospital) in New Zealand.
Specialties
Over the last twenty years I have worked with/in the following clinical specialties within Healthcare:
Medicine, Surgery, Orthopaedics, Oncology, Theatres, Emergency Medicine, ICU, CCU, Pathology, Radiology, Radiotherapy, Genetics, Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Maternity, Occupation Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Social Work, Mental Health.
A detailed CV is available upon request while an overview can be downloaded below.
