Tracy Allen to step down as chief executive of Derbyshire’s community NHS services

Tracy Allen has announced plans to step down as chief executive of Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust in September 2024, after 13 years in the role.

Under Tracy’s leadership, NHS community health services in Derbyshire have evolved, first as a standalone provider in 2011, to become an NHS trust and then an NHS foundation trust in 2014, achieving a CQC outstanding rating in 2019, which it has maintained over the past four years.

In recent years Tracy has played a pivotal leadership role within the local integrated health and care system, as a partner member on the Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board; NHS lead for Place development and as an elected trustee of NHS Providers, representing community/foundation trusts, in 2022/23. Tracy has often been named in the HSJ’s Top 50 NHS chief executives’ list since 2015.

Speaking about her announcement to stand down, Tracy said:

“Taking the decision to step down has been incredibly difficult for me on many levels, and something I’ve being mulling over for several months. This has been my dream job for the past 13 years, but it has also been very tough and demanding at times and can take a lot out of you, so I want to step back on a high and before I start running out of energy to do the job well.”

Tracy has been in NHS leadership roles for over three decades, having joined the NHS graduate training scheme in 1990 from university.

Before becoming chief executive in 2011, Tracy was managing director of the provider arm of community health services for NHS Derby County for more than four years and executive director of strategy and service improvement at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust between 2002 and 2006.  A list of her previous leadership appointments is included below.

In Tracy’s announcement to her 4,300 colleagues working at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, she said:

“I’ve been very fortunate and privileged to work with so many brilliant people and I genuinely love everything about this organisation. Most of all, I love the people and the culture we’ve created together. There will always be challenges, and it’s tempting to say these have been tougher than ever lately, but what’s undeniable is that collectively we’ve faced those challenges head-on, keeping our values at the centre of everything we do. Kindness is the glue which binds DCHS together, and I will always be able to look back and smile about what we’ve achieved.”

Julie Houlder, chair of Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“Tracy has been relentless in her ambition to improve services and patient experience for local people and has greatly enhanced relationships with our many partners. She guided the organisation to foundation trust status and on to an outstanding CQC rating and led us through many ups and downs with her dedication to the role. It goes without saying that we’ll all be incredibly sad to lose such a brilliant chief executive. She will be with us until the Annual Members’ Meeting in September, so we’ve got plenty of time to give her the comprehensive send-off she deserves. Tracy is a truly remarkable person and colleague, one of the very best in the game, and I fully respect the decision she has made, so let’s all ensure she leaves us on a high.”