Ironman Matthew Kershaw 'to rest' at South London Healthcare NHS Trust (From News Shopper)

Ironman Matthew Kershaw 'to rest' at South London Healthcare NHS Trust

9:11am Wednesday 18th July 2012 in Greenwich news By Robert Fisk and Heloise Wood

THE man in charge of examining the financial problems of the South London Healthcare NHS Trust is set to have a ‘nice rest’ at SLHT.

Matthew Kershaw was appointed as the special administrator last Thursday (July 12), just 10 days before he takes on the challenge of the Ironman UK Bolton 2012.
 

After completing the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run on Sunday (July 22) he will be back down south to examine how the Trust manages to lose £1.3m a week.
 

So far he has raised £525 in sponsorship for his charity Maggie’s Centres, which provides support for people with cancer.
 

And one of his supporters wrote on his JustGiving fundraising page: “Good luck Matthew I really admire all the training and discipline you have put in.
“Hope you get through it in good time then a nice rest at slht xx.”
 

At the Department of Health Mr Kershaw is the director for provider delivery tasked with making sure hospital trusts can meet the requirements for foundation trust status.
 

Before SLHT was put under his control he had met the outgoing chief executive Dr Chris Streather and written to him warning him the trust was behind schedule to become a foundation trust.
 

In the letter sent on February 16 he summarised his  concerns for the trust, which had been expressed in an earlier meeting.
 

This included SLHT not being confident in delivering the financial position they had signed up to for the financial year and having no contingency plan.
 

He also said there was a limited organisational understanding of the bigger picture.
 

Before being seconded to the Department of Health as the national director for provider delivery he was the chief executive at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
 

The accounts during his term there show it was a financially healthy trust.

It had a surplus of £2.7m in the year 2008-09 and a surplus of £1.9m in the year 2009-10.