THE WOMAN who has been at the helm of Great Western Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for nearly a decade is moving on to an even greater challenge.

Chief executive Lyn Hill-Tout, 55, will become the new CEO for the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which manages Stafford Hospital and is currently the subject of a public inquiry after a higher-than-expected number of deaths at the hospital from 2005 to 2008.

The Mid-Staffordshire Trust was severely citicised by the Healthcare Commission as was conditions at Stafford Hospital.

Press reports suggested that because of the substandard care between 400 and 1200 more patients died between 2005 and 2008 than would be expected for the type of hospital.

Mrs Hill-Tout is fully aware of the challenge ahead of her and the need to rebuild the reputation of the Mid Staffordshire Trust.

“There comes a point when you feel you’ve done the best job you could have done and it’s time to move on,” she said.

“It is about allowing the organisation to grow and create the space for other people to grow and take the Trust forward. It is the right time for me, I do love a challenge and Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust has had such an awful history and the local community deserve better.

“It’s not an easy job and it is daunting but it would be wrong if I wasn’t feeling some trepidation, the job is difficult.

“People are always watching the GWH anyway, but everyone is watching that hospital on a national level so that could make it quite a challenging job and I don’t want to let people down, that is the main thing.

“They have gone through enough and there is a sense of weight on my shoulders, but I think the population want success for their local hospital.”

Mrs Hill-Tout joined the NHS in 1974 as a ward clerk in Cheltenham before working her way up through a variety of different hospital roles.

She joined the Trust as director of operations in 1997.

Since then, she has led many of the major health developments, including the move from the Princess Margaret Hospital in 2002.

In 2008, she oversaw the transition to Foundation Trust and more recently, has seen a number of significant investments at the hospital including the White Horse Birth Centre, a £1.6m redevelopment of the Wiltshire Breast Centre and the introduction of a new Cath Lab for treating people with heart conditions in April.

But like any career, her eight years as CEO have seen both highs and lows.

On May 11, 2004, Mayra Cabrera, 30, died just over two hours after giving birth to son Zac at the GWH and the Trust later admitted that Bupivacaine, a potent epidural anaesthetic, was mistakenly fed intravenously into Mrs Cabrera's arm, rather than into the space of her spinal cord.

The Trust was hit with a £75,000 fine, plus £25,000 costs.

And six years ago, the Trust was also forced to make around 70 redundancies.

But Mrs Hill-Tout says it is thanks to a few wise words from her 87-year-old mother Joyce Osbourne that she has been able to cope with the bad times.

“My mum always says to me ‘Lynny, you can only do your best’ and she is absolutely right, that is what I live by,” she said.

“That is all you can do, and encourage others to live by the same token.

“I’ve never had a career plan and I’ve never been particularly ambitious, I came from a very working class background, but my parents worked incredibly hard and if I had become a secretary and got married that would have been wonderful because that was the norm.

“My parents were incredibly proud when I got a job working in a hospital, but I have never planned my career, I have just been fortunate.

“The highs of the job have far outweighed the lows, but anything that affects the quality of patient care I would say has been a low point.

“We’ve had the Mayra Cabrera case which was a very difficult time for us and a very difficult time for the family.

“I take every complaint and concern very personally and I always want to put it right.”

Mrs Hill-Tout’s final working day at GWH will be May 20.