Sir Leonard Raymond Fenwick, CBE (born 10 August 1947) is an English hospital executive, who until August 2017 was the Chief Executive of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, from where he was sacked after being found guilty of Gross Misconduct.

Career

Born and raised West Jesmond,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is a ...

, he joined the NHS aged 18 as a management trainee at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in 1965. Aged 20 he was appointed an administrative officer at the then new Hull Royal Infirmary. In the 1970s he returned to Newcastle as part of the team involved in the planning and design of the dental hospital and associated dental school. Fenwick was then appointed commissioning manager for the former Freeman Road Hospital, before being promoted senior management lead, and in 1977 was appointed as Unit Administrator. He was then appointed General Manager of the Freeman Hospital, becoming Chief Executive when it became an NHS Trust in 1992. In 1998 he became the Chief Executive of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH). In April 2011, he was named as the 11th highest paid employee (£232,500) in the English NHS. In 2015 the Health Service Journal judged him as the fifth to top Chief Executive in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' newspaper, he was one of a number of NHS Chief Executives who publicly supported government imposition of the new junior doctors contract.

Dismissal

On 12 January 2017 the Board of NUTH announced that Sir Leonard had been placed on extended leave. A disciplinary panel was then convened, after an investigation was carried out into claims of bullying and abusive behaviour. It was claimed that Fenwick had tried to force the resignations of two consultants, who were caught having sex with junior members of staff on hospital premises.The Daily Telegraph
/ref> The dismissals were stopped by the Trust's chair, Kingsley Smith, and non-executive director Bryan Dodson, and after a subsequent 20 minute hearing the two consultants were advised that they could keep their jobs. However, during the investigation allegations and issues were raised against Fenwick by different sources, which resulted in the Board commissioning an investigation and report by an outside HR specialist. This report led to a two-day disciplinary hearing, which found "allegations relating to inappropriate behaviour, use of resources and a range of governance issues, which were proven." Fenwick appealed against the decision, but a second independent panel again found the allegations proven, and resultantly Fenwick was dismissed on grounds of Gross Misconduct. NUTH added that "Due to the serious nature of the issues the Trust was required to report a number of concerns to NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Services, known as

NHS Protect NHS Protect formed part of the NHS Business Services Authority of the National Health Service until 2017. It had responsibility in England for tackling fraud, violence, bribery, corruption, criminal damage, theft and other unlawful action such ...

. As a result it would be inappropriate for the Trust to make any further comment on this matter."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenwick, Leonard Living people 1947 births People from Newcastle upon Tyne Administrators in the National Health Service English healthcare chief executives Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor