Derek Kitchen

Derek’s career spans 40 years, over half of which have been spent in board roles in both the public and private sector, including as CEO of Northern Birmingham Mental Health NHS Trust. He led Staffordshire CSU since its inception in 2011 and continued as managing director through mergers with Lancashire CSU in 2012 followed by Central Midlands CSU in 2014.

Derek is passionate about the contribution we make to improving the lives of patients and the public. He has been instrumental in shaping the CSU to the needs of customers and governing bodies via stakeholder engagement and strong organisational development with staff. To help with this, Derek has been able to draw on his experience reshaping mental health services in Birmingham.

Passionately believing in success based on strong relationships, Derek works closely with customers, key stakeholders and influencers at local, regional and national levels. He has also built productive relationships with a number of key private sector partners who have contributed to our development and supported us in providing services.

Derek ensures that he’s always visible and accountable to customers and CSU staff. He strives for continuous improvement and is keen to deliver the best possible results for all concerned. He provides clear strategic leadership and an in-depth understanding of change management.

A Chartered Public Finance Accountant, in 2015 he was named as one of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountancy’s trailblazers, of whom this was said: ‘…individuals with outstanding records in innovation. Given the public sector’s ongoing need to do more with less, role models adept at new thinking are increasingly required’.

Derek leads by example and continues to drive the CSU on. He strives for us to keep expanding and adding value to the NHS. During his time as managing director, we have grown via procurement and merger, with our customer base rising from six to 50.