Interim boss of country’s worst performing hospitals trust appointed group chief executive

APPOINTMENT: Lyn Simpson

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

The under-fire boss of England’s worst performing hospitals trust has been appointed as its group’s chief executive.

Lyn Simpson was appointed interim CEO of NHS Humber Health Partnership (HHP) group, which includes Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG), in July 2025 following the suspension of former CEO Jonathan Lofthouse three months earlier.

Eight months later, in March this year, The Hull Story revealed that HUTH, which manages Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, had become the worst performing hospitals trust in the country, being ranked 134 out of 134 trusts in NHS England’s national performance league table.

Ms Simpson has now being appointed “substantive” group chief executive of Humber Health Partnership, following what it called a “competitive recruitment process”.

The appointment was confirmed by the Boards in Common of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, HHP said. The appointment was ratified by the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust Council of Governors and agreed by NHS England, it said.

The role had been advertised last month as having a salary of up to £308,976.

Announcing the appointment today, HHP said: “Lyn joined the Humber Health Partnership last summer on an interim basis at the request of NHS England to provide leadership and stability, and to take a clear and open approach to understanding the long-standing challenges facing the organisation.

“Since then, she has worked closely with clinicians and teams across both trusts to establish a clinically led improvement plan, bringing greater clarity, alignment and focus to how those challenges are addressed.”

Alan Downey, chair of Humber Health Partnership, said: “Lyn has provided strong and focused leadership since joining the Partnership at a critical time. Her substantive appointment provides the stability and continuity needed as we move into the next phase of work to strengthen services and continue to improve outcomes for our patients and communities.”

Mr Downey became chair on April 1.

Sir Jim Mackey, NHS chief executive, said: “Lyn’s appointment is really welcome – the challenges faced by these trusts are really significant but they’ve got a fantastic group of staff and Lyn’s experience and expert leadership will be vital in enabling them to turn the corner to get local NHS services back delivering in a way that their patients deserve.”

FAILING: Hull Royal Infirmary

Ms Simpson said: “Since last summer, we have taken a clear, open and clinically led approach to understanding the long-standing challenges across the Partnership, and have made real progress in bringing greater alignment and focus to how we address them.

“This work is well underway, and we are now moving into the next phase, continuing to work closely with our clinical teams, colleagues across a and partners to improve services for our patients and communities.

“There is still a lot of work to do. These challenges have developed over many years and will not be resolved overnight, but we now have greater clarity, stronger clinical leadership and the right focus to deliver sustained improvement for patients across the Humber.

“This work has also led to closer alignment with NHS England through the Intensive Recovery Programme, providing additional support and structure as we move into the next phase.”

After her earlier appointment as interim CEO on a salary of £279,162 a year, Ms Simpson brought in six senior managers as part of the new improvement team, which was in addition to the existing executive team.

The cost of this team between August 2025 and January 2026 was more than £390,000 in salaries and expenses.

Shortly after slumping to the bottom of the league tables, HUTH was named as one of the first five trusts to be placed in Government intervention through the NHS Intensive Recovery programme.

Just days after this intervention was announced The Hull Story revealed Ms Simpson had been claiming thousands of pounds in hotel expenses as the organisation fell to the bottom of the performance table.

Following a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, the trust disclosed Ms Simpson claimed £4,875 for 39 overnight stays – £125 per night. She also claimed £629.65 in travel costs. HUTH did not reveal what time period this covered, but said Ms Simpson was still claiming accommodation and travel expenses.

The partnership is understood to have a cost savings target in excess of £100m this year, and staff have to apply to senior management to buy basic items such as pens and pads of paper.

Ms Simpson was not available for interview today, HHP said.

She has declined repeated requests for interview by The Hull Story despite appearing on BBC Look North.