South West London and St George's welcome new Chief Operating Officer | News

Ashton joins us from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, where he currently serves as the Operations Director for Older People and Adult Community Services. With extensive experience in the NHS as a trained mental health nurse, Ashton has held senior leadership roles in both mental health and community physical health services.

He is passionate about inclusion, compassionate and values-based leadership, and ensuring that staff are supported to thrive. Ashton is dedicated to reducing race inequity and enabling the delivery of excellent care and support to those who use our services, as well as to their families and carers.

Ashton said: “I am delighted to be appointed as the next Chief Operating Officer at SWLSTG. I’m looking forward to joining an organisation committed to improving the experience of our staff and the individuals we serve, and building strong partnerships within our communities across south west London and beyond.

“I hope in the coming months I will get to meet and connect with many colleagues across the organisation and within our partnerships, supporting the amazing work you all do each and every day.’’

Welcoming Ashton’s appointment, Chief Executive, Vanessa Ford, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Ashton as our new Chief Operating Officer. Ashton stood out from a strong field of candidates due to his extensive operational experience in mental health, his effective compassionate leadership, and his passion for helping us provide inclusive and equitable services that reduce health inequalities, especially race inequity.

“We are confident that Ashton’s expertise will help us continue to deliver the highest quality care to our patients and service users, supporting our mission of Making Life Better Together for the communities we serve.”

Ashton is due to start his role as Chief Operating Officer at the beginning of November.