The CEO of a troubled NHS Teesside health trust has quit her job, saying 'life is just too short.'
Siobhan McArdle is the chief executive of South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and she announced her departure to staff on Monday morning, Teesside Live reports.
Her resignation comes two months after a critical inspection saw South Tees, which runs James Cook University Hospital, handed the worst possible rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for its critical care.
Ms McArdle was one of the highest paid civil servants in Teesside. She was initially appointed on a salary of £225,000 in 2015.
Her base salary climbed to between £235,000 and £240,000 last year, when she was paid an extra £52,000 for "time worked over and above contracted hours", taking her total pay to around £290,000.
An all-staff email was sent out by the former management consultant announcing her intentions, according to the Health Service Journal.
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In it, Ms McArdle said she considered demands for further efficiency savings "too great a challenge" at the trust.
Ms McArdle added: "Throughout my time in the NHS I am proud to have remained true to my own values, vision and high levels of integrity - values, vision and integrity that I know many of you also share.
"However, after much debate with my family and friends over the last 12 months, I have now decided that the personal cost of being a CEo in the NHS is just too high and life is just too short."
She also told staff South Tees was "not an organisation that requires improvement."
And she added it was "financially unsustainable" without a long-term recovery plan to deal with its private financial initiative (PFI) debts and other long-term debts.
Ms McArdle also launched an extraordinary attack, branding the local health economy as "underfunded and unsustainable."
She added in the missive: "I will always remain a great supporter of this organisation and fully intend to continue to fight for a fairer deal for the people of Teesside, Hableton, Richmondshire, Whitby and the surrounding areas - just from a different place."
The hospital trust saw its rating plunge from "good" to "requires improvement" following the CQC inspection this year.
The watchdog found "harm had occurred" to patients. It has agreed an 97-point action plan to respond to the shortcomings identified.
Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said the trust had been facing "significant challenges" - particularly in its finances.
"The trust, and in particular the chief executive officer, needs to be able to command the confidence of the workfroce and hopefully a fresh approach will start to put relationships back on an even keel," he said.
The town's Mayor, Andy Preston, said her departure was "a great loss of leadership, integrity and experience.
"I'm pleased to hear she now intends to fight for a better deal in terms of health and social care funding for Teesside," he said.
Ms McArdle will step down on September 30.
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