Joanna Forster Adams

Role: Chief Operating Officer

What I do

As Chief Operating Officer I work with Trust staff, leaders and managers, together with partners and stakeholders, to deliver care across all of our services.  I lead on service development, ensuring that we respond to changes in the needs of the people we serve, working alongside health and care statutory and voluntary colleagues. I am also responsible for major service change and supporting people to encourage and enable improvement on an ongoing basis. I have lead and statutory responsibility for making sure we respond to an emergency or crisis situation, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. More recently I have taken a lead on the Covid-19 vaccination programme and have started to develop further our health inequalities work, particularly in relation to our care services.

How I contribute to improving the experience of service users and carers

I contribute to improving the experience of service users and carers by reporting on what we’re doing well and where we don’t meet the standards of care, access or delivery which provides high quality care for our service users. I ensure that an ‘at a glance dashboard’ is available to make the information easier to understand.  I, along with my team, will pay particular attention to the problems that directly affect service users and their carers and look for ways to improve the quality of what we do.

My experience

I joined the Trust in July 2017. I was previously Executive Director of Operations for Mental Health and Community Services in the north west of England.   I have worked in the NHS since 1984 and have experience of clinical and corporate services in hospitals, community and mental health organisations in the north east.  I gained a Master’s in Business Administration from Durham University and am a graduate of the NHS Leadership Academy Nye Bevan programme.

My motivation is drawn from the passion and determination shown by staff, stakeholders, service users and carers to drive improvement in mental health care. With over 20 years as a senior NHS manager, I am keen to help staff be confident and supported to do the right thing and be the best that they can be through personal and professional development.

Get in touch

You can contact me by emailing joanna.forsteradams@nhs.net