The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to announce that Joan Spencer has been appointed its Interim Chief Executive from 31st March 2025.
Joan is currently the Trust’s Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive. She will take up her new role when Chief Executive Liz Bishop retires in March after 42 years in the NHS.
Merseyside born and bred and a cancer nurse by background, Joan joined The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in 2014 as General Manager of Chemotherapy where she was instrumental in developing the Trust’s networked model of care with treatment sites across Cheshire and Merseyside, and in ensuring the successful opening of its 11-storey flagship specialist hospital in Liverpool in 2020.
She was also the driving force in establishing the multi-award-winning ‘Clatterbridge in the Community’ service. This trailblazing approach was the UK’s first ‘chemotherapy at home’ service delivered by specially trained cancer nurses, and the model was subsequently adopted by other hospitals across the country.
Joan has been part of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s executive team since April 2019 when she was became Interim Director of Operations. She was appointed to the substantive post of Chief Operating Officer in November 2020, following a highly competitive recruitment process, and took on the additional role of Deputy Chief Executive in February 2024.
Kathy Doran, Chair of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, said:
Joan is an outstanding leader who combines strategic thinking with common sense and a great grasp of detail. She is absolutely committed to patients and understands every aspect of the care we provide and our role in the wider health and social care system. Her expertise, experience and leadership skills greatly benefit the Trust and our patients and I am very much looking forward to working with her in her new role.
Joan said:
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has a unique role in our region providing patient-focused specialist care to a population of more than 2.4m people. We are completely dedicated to delivering our best for people with cancer and to working with health and social care partners to improve health outcomes and patient experience for the communities we serve.
I am absolutely delighted to have been appointed Interim Chief Executive. Liz has been a superb chief executive. I am determined to build on what she has achieved by ensuring we continue to advance cancer care and research, combined with the personal compassion and wraparound support we aim to give every patient.
The appointment will take effect from 31st March 2025 on Liz Bishop’s retirement.
