Priory is delighted to announce the appointment of two independent non-executive directors to its operating boards from 1st June 2022. Dr Olu Olasode will join the Adult Care Operating Board and Heather Tierney-Moore OBE, the Healthcare Operating Board.
This is the first time since 2016 that Priory has had non-executive directors. These key roles are part of the organisation’s commitment to quality, operational consistency and becoming the leading European provider of mental health and rehabilitative services, as part of MEDIAN.
Dr Olasode has over 32 years of executive leadership experience, alongside 25 years as non-executive director and chairman of audit and governance, within several healthcare, social care, housing, communities, and private sector organisations. These include the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the Audit Commission, NHS Trusts, and local and central government.
He is a chartered accountant, economist, and leadership consultant. He was one of the five government-appointed commissioners that led the development of the new regulatory model for social care and mental health services. In addition to his current executive role as Group Chief Executive Officer of TL First Consulting Group, Dr Olasode is a Non-Executive Director and Chair of Integrated Audit and Governance with East Kent University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Independent Chair of Audit and Governance with the London Borough of Croydon Council.
Speaking of his appointment, Dr Olasode said:
“I am delighted to be appointed as the Adult Social Care Non-Executive Director at Priory and to contribute to ensuring some of the most vulnerable people in society are able to live fulfilling lives, as independently as possible.
“I was attracted to this role because of Priory’s colleagueship, highly professional culture, its values of striving for excellence, and its focus on putting people first.
“I look forward to supporting Priory and providing effective challenge to the Adult Care Operating Board as we continue to deliver high quality, outcomes-driven services, and work with our service users, their families, staff colleagues, regulators, commissioners and other partners to evidence continuous improvement in outcomes, effective models of care across the pathway and people-centred policies.”
Heather Tierney-Moore OBE has had a long and distinguished career working at Trust, regional and national level across the NHS in England and Scotland. Heather now has a portfolio of non-executive and strategic advisory roles, including Interim Chair for NHS Supply Chain. With 25 years of board experience and 10 years non-executive board experience, Heather began her career as a nurse. She is National Patron for the Positive Practice Mental Health Collaborative and has extensive experience in healthcare, having been CEO for Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and Director at NHS Lothian Board and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. Heather has held a number of non-executive positions, including Director at Community Integrated Care and NHS Confederation, and Trustee for Black Stork/The DNRC Charity. She was honoured by the Queen in 2002 for services to Healthcare.
Speaking of her appointment, Heather Tierney-Moore OBE said:
“I am pleased to join Priory as Non-Executive Director in the Healthcare Division at an exciting point in the company’s history. I’ve been impressed by the organisation’s positive culture, values and its openness to receiving independent advice and support.
“I am extremely passionate about mental health and the importance of providing high quality, safe services to vulnerable people, which is more important than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have been struck by both Priory and MEDIAN’s focus on rehabilitation and the total wellbeing of patients and services users – both physical and psychological. I am a passionate advocate for looking at the whole person when designing and delivering care, having experienced the importance of this first hand when I was a Macmillan Breast Cancer Nurse.
“I am looking forward to using my years of experience in healthcare to add value to Priory’s work and cultivate even stronger relationships with the NHS and the communities we serve.”
Dr. André Schmidt, Group CEO MEDIAN, said:
“These two non-executive director appointments are really significant in bringing a greater degree of challenge and scrutiny to our work, alongside enormous expertise, to ensure we move forward and deliver on our commitment to become the leading European provider of high quality mental health and rehabilitative services.”
Rebekah Cresswell, CEO of Priory, said:
“I am very much looking forward to welcoming Olu and Heather to such influential roles, which I see as a real milestone in Priory’s journey. I sought to embed this governance model into our organisation, as I believe both divisions of our business will benefit enormously from the challenge to our thinking that our new non-executive directors will bring – alongside their vast knowledge and experience of health and social care.
“Having independent, strategic input and diversifying our leadership, demonstrates our commitment to providing the highest quality to every service user and resident we support, and further evolving our values-based culture at Priory.”
ENDS
Contact: [email protected]
About Priory and MEDIAN
Priory is the UK’s leading independent provider of mental health services. We treat more than 70 conditions, including depression, anxiety, addictions and eating disorders, as well as children’s mental health, across our nationwide network of sites. We also support autistic adults and adults with a learning disability, Prader-Willi Syndrome and brain injuries, as well as older people, within our specialist residential care and supported living facilities – helping as many people as possible to live their lives.
Priory is part of the MEDIAN Group, one of Europe’s leading providers of high quality mental health and rehabilitation services. The MEDIAN Group comprises 290 facilities with 5,000 beds caring for 28,000 people in the UK, 120 facilities with 20,000 beds caring for around 250,000 patients in Germany, and 15 facilities with 2,000 beds caring for 13,000 people in Spain, with more than 29,000 employees overall.