A THIRD senior manager is leaving North Cumbria’s troubled hospitals.

It follows the departure of chief executive Ann Farrar earlier this month, and medical director Jeremy Rushmer in November.

Head of nursing, Gail Naylor, who only joined North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust in 2014, will now leave in March.

Campaigners said they hoped the change in management signalled a new start for the crisis-hit trust which is struggling with mounting debts, staffing issues and increasing pressures on services.

A spokeswoman said Mrs Naylor will take up a new post as executive director of nursing and midwifery at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.

“The Trust would like to thank Gail for her tremendous contributions over the past two years,” she said.

“Under her leadership, many improvements have been implemented in nursing and midwifery and we are sure all of her staff would agree that she will be missed very much. We all wish Gail the very best in her new role.”

Confirming her move, Mrs Naylor said: “I would like to thank our staff for their hard work and support and I look forward to getting out and about to speak to as many members of staff as I can to thank them personally before I leave.”

The Royal College of Nursing said that she would be a real loss to the trust, but called for stability.

The union’s regional spokesman said: “The local community and the staff deserve a management team that are prepared to stay the course, as there are some very difficult decisions ahead.”

The Trust, which runs the West Cumberland Hospital, also announced it had a new associate director of midwifery, Christina Cuncarr, who has travelled from New Zealand to take up the new post. 

She said: “This is a new role which has been created to give more strategic leadership to the maternity teams, so I’m really excited to be taking on this challenge. 

“Sometimes maternity can be seen as an ‘add on’, rather than an integral part of the hospital, so one of my biggest priorities is to foster a more collaborative culture across the business units. 

"I see myself as a link between the hospitals and the community and

hope staff and service users alike will feel able to share their ideas with me.”