Lancashire Teaching Hospitals is delighted to announce the appointment of Mike Thomas as Chair of the Trust Board from 1 January 2025.
Mike, who is currently Chair of University Hospitals of Morecombe Bay Trust and has played a pivotal role in their improvement journey, is also the Chair of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Provider Collaborative Board, and will continue this tenure following his new appointment.
In this role, he has continued to champion the patient voice and is delighted to be able to continue to improve patient care and colleague experience as Chair of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.
Mike said: “Although I am very sad to be leaving UHMBT, I am absolutely delighted to be taking up the role of Chair at my local hospital trust. As a provider of tertiary services across Lancashire and South Cumbria, LTH has a vital role to play both now and in the years ahead as we undertake a transformation of our system wide clinical and community services.”
Mike has worked in academia and the health sector for nearly 40-years in a variety of senior academic roles, including Vice-Chancellor, also holding various professional chairs across four universities.
He remains research active and a practising clinical psychotherapist, and more recently has been providing an advisory service to public and commercial sector organisations supporting staff engagement projects, cultural change programmes and strategies for enhancing good governance.
Silas Nicholls, Chief Executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “I am delighted that Mike has been appointed as Chair of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. He brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge, and I am looking forward to working with him in the future to ensure we improve healthcare for our local community.
“I would also like to acknowledge the significant contribution of our current Chair, Peter White. He has been a great advocate for us and a source of much valued support to me, the rest of the Board and our governors during a period of significant challenge. His influence and impact have been notable both within the trust and across the system and we will miss him when he leaves us at the end of the year.”
Mike is committed to the voluntary, charity and public sector and has been continuously involved in charitable work for his whole working life. He is currently serving as Chair of Making Space, a national mental health charity, and he co-founded the College for Military Veterans and the Emergency Services. Prior to entering academia, he served in the Royal Navy, working for five years in HM Submarines before employment in the engineering sector and then qualifying as a mental health nurse and later a psychological therapist.
Mike added: “I am looking forward to working closely with Silas, Board members, colleagues and our governors to ensure that we achieve our full potential. This means making sure we can offer safe, affordable, sustainable services to the people we serve which will in turn ensure we are in a good position to make the most of the many opportunities that that a new hospital would bring to colleagues and our communities.
“I would like to thank Peter White for his exemplary chairing of the Trust Board and very much hope to build on the foundations that he has put in place.”
