A Croydon NHS shake-up is putting responsibility for the planning and provision of hospital and community services in the hands of a single leader.

Matthew Kershaw has been appointed as joint Trust CEO and Clinical Commissioning Group Place Based Leader for health, leading up a new partnership of NHS organisations aimed at providing more joined-up care for patients in the borough.

Currently serving as interim chief executive of Croydon NHS Trust, Mr Kershaw will take up his new role in October.

He said: “It’s a huge privilege to take up this opportunity to better integrate health care in the borough at such an exciting time.

"We are already making great progress by bringing some of our health services together and working side-by-side with the local authority, GPs, mental health services and voluntary groups, we are looking to do more to meet the needs of our different neighbourhoods across Croydon.

“As a partnership, we want to deliver the best for our patients and our staff both in the community and in hospital, as well as improving the future health of the people living in Croydon.”

Today’s announcement follows commitments by the Trust and CCG made in May to work closer together, ensuring the best possible spend for the Croydon pound and freeing-up resources to support further quality improvements on the frontline.

Mr Kershaw has more than 26 years of NHS experience and has held a number of senior leadership roles, most recently as Chief Executive of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, which he led out of 'special measures'.

Responding to the announcement, Tony Newman, leader of Croydon Council, said: “Croydon is a great place to live and work, but for too long it has suffered from deep health inequalities.

Matthew’s welcome appointment as our first Place Based Leader provides an exciting opportunity for us all to work together to transform the health, well-being and life chances of those from our most excluded communities and make a lasting difference to tackling health inequalities.

“As partners, Croydon Council and the local NHS have the shared goal to improve the health and care for people in our community. No one organisation can do this alone and the more we can work together the better to care for our growing population and create a healthier Croydon.”