Dave Fitton

Dave is a strategic manager with extensive operational experience delivering healthcare in acute hospital and regional settings. He has led a team of regional managers covering the West Midlands, the North West and South Yorkshire health economies. Programmes he has led to transform services have improved patient satisfaction and delivered large recurrent savings

Strategic leadership and management Since 2017 Dave has led an experienced team of senior managers providing escalation support to healthcare providers and clinical commissioning groups as head of urgent and emergency care with Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit’s Regional Capacity Management Team. He was also the team’s Black Country regional capacity manager from 2014-16. In that capacity, he led development of the Escalation Management System (EMS+) triggers for all 21 hospitals in the West Midlands.

Operational management From 2016-17 Dave was responsible for urgent and emergency patient flow throughout Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. He led the Clinical Capacity and Discharge teams and the patient discharge reviews, reducing average length of stay by 1.2 days. He was also responsible for all aspects of emergency preparedness, resilience and response, including training for 5,000 staff.

Service improvement In roles including directorate manager of emergency services and directorate manager of adult community services (both with Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust), Dave improved services and realised efficiencies. For emergency services, he developed new LEAN business practices reducing duplication, eliminating wasteful processes and improving access for GP-referred and emergency attendance patients. For adult community services, he implemented a case allocation system reducing administration, travel time and mileage while increasing patient contact time and clinical efficiency.