Tasmanian Times
Response from David Roberts
8 December 2009
The suggestion that somehow I am responsible for allegedly unsatisfactory performance hospitals at Coventry and Warwickshire in the UK could not be further from the truth.
I was Chief Executive of the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust for five years from 2002.
I was appointed by the then Government to lead a new management team to turn around a situation where the Trust was rated one of the worst performing in the country and the major hospital in the group, Walsgrave, was rated by the Commission for Health Improvement as the worst bar none in the UK.
It is a matter of public record that by the time I left, the Trust had been granted three stars by the Health Care Commission – the highest possible rating.
It is difficult to understand why there is so much attention being given in Australia to this matter.
I am proud to be the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services in Tasmania as I was of University Hospitals which achieved great things.
I have a strong management team working hard with our staff to improve the services we offer to the public in line with the reform programs of the State and Federal Governments.
David Roberts
Secretary
Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services
