New chairwoman appointed at struggling health and social care trust in Sheffield

Sharon Mays will join the trust in October. She will succeed Mike Potts when he completes his fixed term appointment as Interim Chair at the end of September.

Sharon is a solicitor by profession and has been Chair of Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, a health and social care provider since 2014. During her tenure as Chair of that Trust the organisation improved its overall Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ and won the Health Service Journal Mental Health Provider of the Year award in 2019.

Sharon’s appointment as chair of SHSC was confirmed by the trust’s Council of Governors at its meeting on August 18.

The trust was rated as ‘requires improvement’ in August by the CQC, taking them out of a rating of ‘inadequate’ and demonstrating the improvements they had started to make.

Speaking about her new role Sharon said: “I am delighted to have been appointed to the role of Chair of Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust. I feel honoured to be given the chance to support service users in Sheffield with great care in mental health services, learning disabilities and substance misuse.

“I have a real interest in service user and carer experiences, so I am looking forward to hearing their stories and ensuring they influence the way we work in the future. I am excited about getting to know the teams too and am passionate about staff health and wellbeing. I am also keen to get to know our governors and work with them to help shape our services so they can be even better.”

Mike Potts, outgoing Chair of Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, added: “I am proud to have been part of the progress that our Trust has made over the last year and delighted that CQC has acknowledged this in their latest inspection report published last month. We know that there is still much work to be done to make improvements but together we have made a good start.

“Sharon will bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and enthusiasm to the role of Chair which will be invaluable on the next stage of our improvement journey.”

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