Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust appoints new Chief Operating Officer with passion for tackling poverty and injustice

Richard Chillery is a qualified social worker and experienced NHS manager and will start in the role at Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust in late September.

The 58-year-old is currently deputy chief operating officer at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, where he is also a Morecombe Bay Poverty Truth Commissioner.

Richard, who lives in Penistone, has also been a non-executive director for Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust for the last four years.

He said he was “very much looking forward to joining the team”, adding: “It was the trust’s values and its ambition to be a truly “community powered” organisation which inspired me to apply and it is only through deep partnership with communities, patients, carers and system partners that health inequalities and poverty start to be really tackled.

“I have always worked in mental health and community services, and will be keen to meet teams, communities, colleagues and partners as soon as I start.”

RDaSH chief executive Toby Lewis said: “I am delighted that Richard has chosen to join the trust this autumn. He brings a passion for the fight against poverty and injustice which chimes with our vision for working at the heart of local communities, and experience as a practitioner working with children and families.”