Wigan hospital boss says goodbye as he retires after 42 years

David Evans, director of estates and facilities, is leaving Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) after 42 years.

He began working for the then Wigan Health Authority in 1980 as a building officer, based at the area works department in Bryan House in Wigan.

He steadily worked his way up the ranks, ultimately becoming responsible for almost 1,000 staff, buildings of more than 145,000 square metres and a budget of around £42m to deliver critical estates and facilities services across the trust.

But the jewel in Mr Evans’ crown must be the transformation of the Thomas Linacre Centre from Wigan Grammar School to an outpatient centre – making WWL the first NHS trust to move outpatient activity off an acute site.

Now, he wants to encourage the next generation of estates and facilities staff to find their potential in the NHS.

Mr Evans said: “In 1980 a job for a building officer in Wigan came up and I thought, that sounds good – where’s Wigan?

“Wigan was a very different place in 1980 – a lot of the estate had not changed since the late 1800s and we had nine hospitals at that time.

"Now so much has changed, we have had major developments at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, the merger with Wrightington Hospital came along and then the Thomas Linacre Centre –I’m very proud of all of it.

“In my career I’ve been supported throughout and encouraged, and the trust is still doing that – I’ve been incredibly lucky.

“I remember I got two job offers at the same time – one with the NHS and one in the private sector – my dad told me to take the one with the NHS because if I kept my nose clean it would be a good career opportunity.

“It is frightening just how quickly the time goes – 42 years has flown by and there are loads of things I’ll miss, such as the challenge of creating new state-of-the-art facilities for our patients, but mostly the people and my estates and facilities team.

“None of these achievements would have been possible without the support of the outstanding team and exceptional friends and colleagues over the years.”

Chief finance officer Ian Boyle said: “A hard-working and loyal servant of the NHS, David can rightly be proud of the long heritage he leaves here at WWL; you only need to walk round our sites to see the projects that he has been involved in.

"David’s heart has always been for the NHS and what has been best for his staff, the trust and our patients, and he will be rightly and sadly missed by all his colleagues.”

Mr Evans intends to spend his retirement with wife Karen, a former community nurse, and his family, as well as indulging in his love of fast cars and motorbikes.