New Senior Responsible Officer for diagnostics in Cheshire and Merseyside appointed
Friday, 21 March 2025
The Cheshire and Merseyside Diagnostics Programme will welcome new Senior Responsible Officer (SRO), Rob Cooper as he steps into the role on 1 April 2025.
Rob will be taking over the role following the departure of current SRO Liz Bishop who has held the position for the last three years.
Rob is also Chief Executive of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals (MWL) and has extensive experience in the health and care field. He started his career after receiving his nursing degree from Liverpool University in 2001 and went on to work in several clinical and operational management roles across the North West, before becoming Assistant Director of Operations for Medicine at MWL. Prior to his appointment to Chief Executive, Rob held the positions of Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director.
Under Liz’s leadership, the Cheshire and Merseyside Diagnostics Programme has significantly reduced waiting times and is consistently one of the best performers nationally on six-week waits. This has been possible thanks to a relentless focus on improving the patient experience, transformation and strong collaboration.
In her time as SRO Liz led on a number of change programmes including the development of the mutual aid process to make best use of capacity, the Endoscopy Transformation Programme and the successful rollout of 10 community diagnostic centres.
Tracey Cole, Programme Director, Cheshire and Merseyside Diagnostics Programme said:
“We are very pleased to welcome Rob as our new SRO. He has been involved in the Diagnostics Programme through numerous projects and is ready to hit the ground running as we work to continue the great strides we’ve made under Liz’s leadership.
“Liz has been a brilliant SRO leading us through some big transformational changes and helping us to grow as a programme and we want to thank her for her everything she has helped us achieve.”