Technical / Duncan steps up into chief executive role

The trust’s former executive director of finance and deputy chief executive says he is honoured to be appointed: ‘It was a role I had to go for. I’ve worked with this organisation and its predecessors for 21 years and it is in my blood.
‘The past two years have been difficult for all, but the commitment, values and effort of everyone have shone through. It’s time to get our heads up and create a sense of opportunity and hope. I’m really looking forward to working with our great staff, partners and, most importantly, the people and communities we serve.’
Mr Duncan knows the job, having acted up as chief executive on several occasions, but he acknowledges the challenge of the new role.
‘I’ve been deputy chief executive for most of my time here, and have acted up into the chief executive role, so I have some insight,’ he says.
‘And I really don’t see the director of finance role as pigeon-holed into focusing on professional lines; it should always be focused on quality of care and making the money work for people, not the other way round.
‘Of course, there’s a big difference between that and the CEO role. The big difference is the range of issues you are working on, as well as the absolute imperative of relationship building in multiple directions. It all comes down to human relations, trust and belief.’
Mr Duncan has worked in the NHS for his whole career and succeeds John Lawlor, who has retired after 37 years in the service. He started on the NHS graduate training scheme in 1992, taking on his first finance director role eight years later, and has worked exclusively in the mental health and disability field.
In addition to acting chief executive, he has held executive responsibilities for human
resources, IT, estates and facilities, commercial and business development and transformation.
He has been involved in national development of mental health payment systems for mental health, and is deputy chair of the HFMA’s Mental Health Finance Steering Group.
As he takes over as chief executive at one of the largest mental health and disability trusts in England, the NHS faces multiple challenges – Covid recovery and the additional demands it has created, a new system-based landscape, concerns over workforce and funding, and the need to make more savings.
Asked what this means for the trust, Mr Duncan replies: ‘The biggest challenge is in
getting ourselves on the front foot. We have a range of challenges in many, many directions – but it is our role collectively to find a way to develop the best services, support and care for the people and communities we serve. So it’s really about finding ways to mobilise and engage our brilliant people in picking a way through.
‘We need to look outside the organisation and work alongside our partners and with our local communities. We must listen and learn from the experiences of those who work with us, whether that’s staff, service users, carers or partners.
‘As long as we recognise and understand our current position, are open and honest
about our abilities and capacity, work within our constraints while innovating, learning and testing, we will deliver as well as anyone.’
Mr Duncan says his immediate focus is on the wellbeing of existing trust staff, who, like all in the NHS, have endured a difficult two years.
‘I want to give our people a chance to breathe, to stabilise next year and not over-promise on delivery,’ he says. ‘At the same time, we must look to our long-term future by setting out our principles, hopes and ambitions, creating space in which our people can flourish, and developing great partnerships with all those we work with.
‘There are huge opportunities – made more possible by the shift to integrated care systems, and away from the competition model – to radically change our collective models of care and support for the better, in a really inclusive way. It’s not a short-term fix, but if we can set ourselves up right, we can really start making inroads into a journey that will shape us over the years ahead.'