New health chief

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has appointed Nottinghamshire business consultant Tracy Doucet as its new chairman.

She succeeds Brian Meakin, who stepped down from the high-profile position earlier this month after nine years at the helm.

Miss Doucet had been a non-executive director at the trust that runs King’s Mill and Newark hospitals for almost two years.

The managing partner of Nottingham-based management consultancy Aspectus Consulting Group today said she was looking forward to helping the trust provide “the best hospitals, the best care and the best people for Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Nottingham.”

Educated at the University of Nottingham, Miss Doucet started her career with HSBC Bank UK, where she spent six years in both private and commercial management before holding a number of senior management and director positions in both the public and private sectors.

Prior to founding Aspectus in 1998 she was executive director of corporate development at the former Greater Nottingham Training and Enterprise Council, later becoming its deputy chief executive.

She has a wealth of experience of providing strategic business and management consultancy services to companies throughout the UK, and has a national reputation for her work in business growth, strategic development and corporate governance.

Miss Doucet’s clients include FTSE 100 companies, large public sector organisations and some of the fastest growing businesses in the East Midlands.  She has a particular interest in helping companies develop strategies for growth and has published and spoken widely on the subject.

In addition to running Aspectus, Miss Doucet acts as a consultant advisor and non-executive director to a number of companies.

She is a qualified associate of the Chartered Institute of Banking and a certified member of the Institute of Management Consultants.

Miss Doucet said: “Being a Foundation Trust has already enabled us to shape our vision for the next decade by making sure we focus on the things that really matter to patients, members and our staff.

“We’ve continued to deliver year-on-year improvements in performance while ensuring patients receive their diagnosis and treatment more quickly than ever before.

“Now the challenge is to build on that progress.

“By 2011 we will have invested £320m in providing one of the best hospitals in the country.  We need to seize on the opportunity to truly revolutionise our services, continue to reduce waiting times and actively engage with patients and staff to provide the best possible care.

“I’m excited to be a part of that vision.”

Miss Doucet, 39, lives in Kirklington, Nottinghamshire. Her interests include politics, current affairs, reading and playing the saxophone.