17 April 2023: London Central and West (LCW), a leading provider of Integrated Urgent Care healthcare services in London, has appointed Tessa Harvey as its new chief executive officer (CEO). Tessa replaces Dr Simon Douglass, who will be retiring in early July after a long and successful career in the NHS since completing medical school in 1988. Dr Alex Yeates has also been appointed to the LCW board as a non-executive director. Dr Douglass joined LCW in 2014 and was appointed as medical director in October 2015 and moved to the post of CEO in April 2021.
Under his leadership, LCW continued it’s growth across services in North West and North Central London. We wish to extend our thanks to Simon for his service to LCW and wish him a happy and healthy retirement. Tessa Harvey has had a long and successful career in the NHS, holding various senior management roles. She is a highly respected leader in the healthcare sector and brings with her a wealth of experience and expertise. Tessa will be leaving her post as chief delivery officer for the Hampshire and Isle of White ICB.
Tessa, who will be joining LCW in the Autumn said about her appointment:
"I am delighted to have been appointed to Chief Executive of LCW. Having worked with LCW over many years I have always valued the patient centred approach to the services that they deliver and the partnership approach that they take in working with primary care, Trusts and commissioners across the ICS they deliver services for. I am very much looking forward to joining the organisation and continuing to work in this way with colleagues within LCW and partners across the ICS areas they serve."
LCW will also welcome Dr Alex Yeates to its board of directors. Alex was a GP for many years and until two years ago, he worked as medical director for Advanced Computer Software, formally Adastra. Alex also set up Medway Doctors on call (Meddoc) in 1989. Meddoc was one of the first of the GP Out-of-Hours co-operatives that set the trend for the transformation of out-of-hours care that occurred in the mid-1990s. Alex joined the board as a non-executive director on 1 April 2023.
Fred Worth, chair of LCW said:
“I would like to thank Simon for his service over the last eight years. I am delighted that Tessa is joining us to take up this very important and challenging role. Her extensive expertise in the health sector will help us to continue collaborating with our stakeholders across healthcare to improve patient care. She will lead our highly professional and experienced EMT team as we drive transformation through the delivery of new, innovative practices across urgent and unscheduled care. Dr Yeates’ background and wealth of primary care experience will be of great benefit to LCW.“
