Chief executive of Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury Hospitals Martin Barkley to retire later this year

Martin Barkley has been in charge of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust, which runs Pontefract, Dewsbury and Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, since April 2016.

A trust board meeting was told on Thursday that he will step down in July, almost 49 years since he first joined the NHS.

He had previously worked as a hospital administrator in Surrey, Nottingham, Hampshire and the north-east.

Mr Barkley has overseen the trust's response to the Covid pandemic, and has been credited with overseeing a "significant improvement" in the culture at the trust since his appointment five years ago.

The Care Quality Commission's (CQC) last full report on the organisation, in 2018, said that the hospitals required improvement overall, though it noted several areas of progress in patient care from previous years.

Trust chairman Keith Ramsay said Mr Barkley would be a "hard act to follow".

"This is not welcome news for many people," he said.

"We're all very sad he's leaving but I'm very happy for him that he's going to be able to spend more time with his family and grandchildren."

The recruitment process to find a new chief executive will start in due course.

Local Democracy Reporting Service