The Gornal coalman's daughter running 'outstanding' children's hospital

Former Ellowes Hall schoolgirl Sarah-Jane Marsh was on track for a career in MI5 when she switched to join the NHS on a graduate management training course.

She was just 32 when she took over as chief executive at the children's hospital in March 2009, just as a damning report revealed a series of failings, criticising the hospital for having insufficient numbers of beds, operating theatres and trained staff. Previous chief Paul O'Connor had resigned shortly before the Healthcare Commission report was published.

Ms Marsh recalled: "I had been working at the hospital as chief operating officer since 2007 and was appointed interim chief executive after my predecessor left. It was just meant to be temporary while they looked for a permanent replacement."

Eight years on, she has steered the hospital to remarkable success. "When I first arrived I remember being quite concerned as some of the things I found, that were later highlighted in the report. So we were already working to deal with them when the report was published."

It was around 2011 and Ms Marsh and her team started looking at the idea of joining forces with the neighbouring Women's Hospital. "We felt we could achieve more with a combined children's and women's hospital. It took us another four years but we've got there. We are now a single organisation."

Plans are now being drawn up to create the first women and children's hospital in Europe on a health campus in Edgbaston.

At the same time Sarah-Jane has been working on her own family: a four-year-old daughter Rosa and 18-month-old son Ronnie with her husband David Nicholson.

The couple's engagement hit the headlines in 2009 because Mr Nicholson was chief executive of the NHS at the time. He retired from the role in 2014. The couple live in Worcestershire.

As well as her 'fantastically supportive' husband, she said she could also call on her parents for help with the children: father Geoff, a coal merchant in Pensnett, and mother Mary, who still live in Smithy Lane, Lower Gornal.

"Rosa and Ronnie are the only grandchildren, so they get a lot of attention," said Ms Marsh. "Having my own children has made me a lot more aware of what the parents of our patients are going through; I can't help seeing my own children in their position."

After schooling at Ellowes Hall, she went to King Edward VI College in Stourbridge and then the University of Lancaster, before returning to the West Midlands to earn a masters at the University of Birmingham.

She considered a career in intelligence, and had got through to the final round of recruitment for MI5 when she switched to join the NHS via the Graduate Management Scheme, going on to hold various roles in primary and secondary care and at the Department of Health, before promotion to director of planning and productivity at Walsall Hospitals.

"I've always wanted to make a difference," said Sarah-Jane. "I never wanted to work in a private company and make a big profit. I wanted to do something in the public sector. The more I have worked in the NHS I have seen some of the things that could be done.

"I don't have any clinical qualifications myself, but we have exceptional staff and my role is to lead them in the right way, to unleash their potential. I want to create an environment where these experts – world-leading doctors, scientists, and physios – can excel."

In February hospital inspectors praised Birmingham Children's Hospital as 'outstanding' and this week the city provided its own thank-you, presenting Sarah-Jane Marsh with the President’s Award at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) annual dinner and awards.

The annual honour was presented to the BCH’s chief executive in front of over 1,200 guests at the International Convention Centre by president Paul Kehoe, who is also chief executive of Birmingham Airport.

The hospital, now part of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, was praised by the Care Quality Commission for “working effectively to provide the best care”.

Mr Kehoe said: “When Sarah-Jane was appointed CEO of the hospital in March 2009 at 32, she was then the youngest ever in the NHS. Since then Sarah-Jane and her staff have done a remarkable job at a truly remarkable Birmingham institution.

“They play a vital role in the delivery of great care every day and they have all helped to get the hospital where it is today. Birmingham should be proud of this marvellous asset and I am delighted to give this special award to a special lady.

“The BCH is the first hospital of its kind to receive ‘outstanding’ status and the award came just as it was opening Magnolia House, which in itself is testimony to how Birmingham can pull together to achieve great results.”

Magnolia House is a new £1 million support centre which has been hailed as setting the benchmark for palliative and bereavement care across the country.

It has been funded entirely by charitable donations and is intended to improve the experiences of hundreds of families who receive life-changing or difficult news in the future.

Meanwhile, Sarah-Jane has led the development of an innovative new mental health partnership for 0-25-year-olds in the city - Forward Thinking Birmingham, the first of its type in the NHS.

Most recently, she has also been appointed Chair of the NHS England Maternity Transformation Programme Board, which aims to make maternity care across England safer and give women greater control and more choice.