Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital Trust appoints new interim CEO

A new CEO has been appointed to act as the interim boss of University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group that jointly manages Northampton General Hospital Trust (NGH) and Kettering General Hospital Foundation Trust (KGH).

Group chief digital information officer Andy Callow has stepped up in Simon Weldon’s absence from the top job for "personal reasons”.

Mr Callow became KGH chief digital and information officer in spring 2019. Prior to his appointment he was programme director for the NHS App at NHS Digital.

He has also held senior positions in the public and private sector, including head of technology delivery for the national NHS website.

A spokesman for the group said: “Simon Weldon, Group CEO is currently taking a period of leave due to personal reasons. Whilst Simon is on leave from the organisation Andy Callow Group Chief Digital Information Officer will be acting as interim Group CEO working with our Hospital CEOs, Debbie Needham at KGH and Heidi Smoult at NGH.”

Mr Weldon was previously director of operations and delivery at NHS England before becoming chief executive at Kettering Hospital in 2018, a role he held until he took up the position of CEO of the group in 2020.

In January 2020, Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals announced their intention to collaborate formally as a hospital group. On July 1, 2021, the new University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group was launched with the intention of improving access to services and the quality of patient care provided.