Donations pour in for charity in memory of Wigan's former hospitals boss

More than £1,500 has been donated to Three Wishes – the charity supporting Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) – in memory of former chief executive Andrew Foster.

He died last month after a short illness and his family asked people to consider supporting the charity in his honour.

A statement on their Just Giving page said: “Wigan Wrightington and Leigh Hospital Trust was central to Andrew’s life, and we will be forever grateful for the loving care he received at the end of his life from ‘his hospital’.

"We would like at this sad time to do something positive and so we would be grateful for donations in Andrew’s memory to the hospital’s Three Wishes charity.”

Mr Foster was born at Christopher Home at Wigan Infirmary and was the trust’s chairman in the 1990s, before returning as chief executive in 2007.

He made many changes to the trust and scooped national awards during his 12 years at the helm.

Mr Foster left WWL in 2019 and worked on a project supporting retired staff returning to the NHS during the pandemic, before becoming chairman of Manx Care, in the Isle of Man.

Outside work, Mr Foster, who lived in Parbold, was devoted to his three children and eight grandchildren and enjoyed playing golf.

A funeral service was held last week, which included a speech by WWL’s medical director Dr Sanjay Arya and was attended by many of his former colleagues.

Donations in his memory can be made at justgiving.com/fundraising/andrewfoster-wwl