Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust bids farewell to outgoing Chair, Professor Jagtar Singh, OBE
After an incredible 10-year tenure, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT) bids farewell to outgoing Chair, Professor Jagtar Singh, OBE.
Jagtar was appointed as CWPT’s Chair in September 2014, having previously held numerous roles in the NHS and Fire Service. Jagtar rose from the position of a fire fighter to the divisional commander in the West Midlands Fire Service, and later becoming the first Asian Acting Chief Fire Officer in his time with the Bedford and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. Jagtar has also previously served as a Trustee of several charities, including the Healing Foundation, Employment Opportunities for Disabled People and Bedford Race Equality.
During his time at CWPT, with the support of the Trust Board, Jagtar introduced an inclusive leaders’ model that has seen several improvements in CWPT’s Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES), Staff Survey results, gender pay gap and CQC ratings. With Jagtar’s support, CWPT played a vital part in delivering vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped administer more than 2 and a half million vaccines across the Coventry and Warwickshire patch. Jagtar has passionately advocated for the development of CWPT’s research capability and ambition to gain University Trust status, outlined in CWPT’s 2022 People at our Heart Strategy.
Since joining CWPT, Jagtar’s passion has been instrumental in driving forward CWPT’s equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda and CWPT has been selected year on year to be a partner in the NHS Diversity Partners Programme and supports other Trusts to implement the EDI agenda. As he steps down from his role as Chair, equality and diversity are embedded into CWPT’s core values.
Mel Coombes MBE, CWPT’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “I would like to extend my personal thanks to outgoing Chair, Professor Jagtar Singh, OBE, on behalf of everyone at the Trust, for his distinguished service over the 10 years of his tenure. Jagtar has brought about a clear focus on delivering culturally competent care, reducing health inequalities, and introducing an inclusive leaders’ model that has seen several improvements to the Trust over this time. We wish Jagtar all the best for the future.”
Dianne Whitfield, CWPT’s Vice-Chair, said: “Since I joined CWPT, Jagtar has completely changed the conversation and priority around the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda at the Trust. He’s relentless in what he does, and his passion, compassion, and inspiring leadership have been critical in ensuring EDI is at the heart of everything we do.” Dianne will be acting Chair at the Trust whilst NHS England undertake a recruitment process to appoint the substantive position.