Watchdog inspector takes up new role as director of quality at Northampton's St Andrew's Hospital to help transform service

A new director of quality has been appointed at St Andrew's Healthcare in Northampton after a number of critical reports by inspectors.

In February this year, the Care Quality Commission stepped in at St Andrew's Hospital to restrict any more patients being admitted to its "unsafe" children's and young people's service.

And in April, another ward was placed under urgent special measures after inspectors found more serious errors in a visit in January.

St Andrew's previously said it would be downsizing the charity and reducing the number of inpatient beds to ensure it could deliver high-quality services consistently.

Earlier this week, St Andrew's Healthcare announced it had appointed Julie Meikle as the new director of quality.

A spokesman for the service said: "Julie was previously Head of Hospital Inspection at the Care Quality Commission (CQC), where she has been for the last 15 years.

Julie brings with her a wealth of experience, with the aim of helping to improve quality and performance across the organisation.

"As Director of Quality, Julie will be focused on providing an honest and open assessment for each service at St Andrew’s, including the Charity’s Child and Adolescence Mental Health Service and the Women’s unit, areas which are both undergoing substantial change."

Katie Fisher, CEO of St Andrew’s added: “We’re delighted to have Julie on-board. Her extensive experience at the CQC and in the Mental Health sector will be enormously beneficial to us, as we aim to continuously improve care for our patients. This is a new role and one which help us deliver sustained improvement as part of our turnaround strategy.”

Julie Meikle, the new Director of Quality at St Andrew’s said: “This is an exciting, yet important job where I will be working closely with the Chief Executive Katie Fisher, the Chair Peter Carter and other senior leaders in order to bring about sustainable and positive change.

“There are areas at St Andrew’s where great care is being delivered, but this needs to be consistent. Collectively I hope we will be able to deliver the Charity’s ambition of being a highly respected specialist service which cares for some of the country’s most vulnerable people.”