Mr Mark Cheetham Divisional Medical Director

About me

Mark is a GenerationQ Fellow and Divisional Medical Director at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

He has been a Consultant Surgeon at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust since 2005. Between 2010 and 2013 he was Scheduled Care Value Stream Lead, and, since April 2013, has been Care Group Medical Director for Scheduled Care.

His role involves managing the medical workforce within the surgical specialties, anaesthetics and critical care, gastroenterology, oncology and clinical haematology across two main sites in a large acute trust. He is also a consultant general and colorectal surgeon, helping to manage patients with colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and surgical emergencies.

Through GenerationQ, Mark is looking to develop his skills, knowledge and experience of leading improvement, including methodologies such as Lean, and data handling. He is also interested in developing his self-awareness and associated skills in negotiating and influencing: ‘We have embarked on a radical whole system redesign programme within Shropshire, which I have been involved in from the start. The skills and knowledge that I gain from GenerationQ will be vital to my future input into this systems redesign project.'

In particular, Mark is intending to lead a project aimed at improving the care of patients in Shropshire needing emergency assessment and treatment for surgical conditions: ‘This project will examine and improve the whole pathway of care of patients needing assessment and treatment by teams in general surgery, urology and vascular surgery in Shropshire.

‘The aim of the project is to focus on improving flow through the system to ensure that patients are speedily assessed and treated.’