Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) is pleased to announce the appointment of Tabitha Gardner as the Trust’s new Chief Finance Officer.
Tabitha brings a vast amount of knowledge and experience to the role having worked in NHS finance at various different Trusts in the North West.
Since 2019, Tabitha has held the role of Director of Finance at Rochdale Care Organisation, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA), where she delivered significant investment into the organisation as part of the Rochdale elective surgical offer. During the past two years, Tabitha has also held a lead role in delivering a more integrated service which has been beneficial to the people of Rochdale.
Prior to this, Tabitha spent eight years working as the Deputy Director of Finance for the North West branch of NHS England and during this time she led the financial management for Specialised Services which delivers numerous rare and complex services.
She has also held finance leadership roles at Wirral NHS Foundation Trust, The Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust and spent some time outside the NHS working at KPMG.
Tabitha will join WWL in March 2023 and spoke on how thrilled she is to be joining the Trust saying: “I am really excited to be joining WWL Board of Directors as the new Chief Finance Officer and to be working with the Executive, Finance, and Estates and Facilities team as well as all colleagues across the Trust. I’m looking forward to delivering the financial and estates agenda and supporting the delivery of great services to our Wigan and Leigh population, including elective recovery.”
Silas Nicholls, WWL Chief Executive said: “All of us at WWL are really looking forward to welcoming Tabitha to the Trust when she takes up post in March.
“She brings a huge amount of experience and knowledge to the role and I have every confidence that Tabitha will use this to provide the best value from our budget to ensure we can continue to deliver excellent care for our patients.”
Kelly Knowles is the current interim Chief Finance Officer at WWL and will remain in this role until March 2023 when Tabitha will take up her new role.