A NEW chief executive has taken the helm at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) and St Luke’s Hospital.

As well as being the trust’s chief executive, Mel Pickup is also the new Partnership Lead for the Bradford Health and Care Partnership.

Mel takes over from John Holden, who has been acting chief executive since Professor Clive Kay left the trust at the end of March this year.

In her previous role, Mel was chief executive of Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and also Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership Lead.

She said: “I’m very excited to join Bradford and start work at this fantastic family of hospitals, building on its many achievements and the high quality, compassionate care it provides to local communities.

“The trust has a well-deserved reputation for innovation, research and being a great place to work – where new staff want to come to, and existing staff want to stay and develop their careers; this is a tremendous advert for the NHS in Bradford.”

Trust chairman Dr Maxwell Mclean said: “Mel embodies the trust’s values and has a wealth of experience as an existing chief executive officer.

"Our ambition is to be an outstanding trust and this will be our focus as we move forward and continue to improve the services we offer our patients.

“Mel joins us in challenging - but exciting – times and she will now be able to play a significant part in inspiring our future, including the local health and care partnership, which she will now lead.”