The chief executive of an NHS trust which cares for more than 40,000 people with mental and physical ill health and learning disabilities is to step down after more than 12 years in the role.

Tom Cahill has announced that he will be leaving his position at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in December.

Mr Cahill joined the trust in 2005 as director of nursing and performance, before becoming the new chief executive.

Under his leadership, the trust has been able to achieve an 'outstanding' rating by the Care Quality Commission in 2019 and was named the Health Service Journal’s (HSJ) Mental Health Trust of the Year for 2020.

In 2017, Mr Cahill, a mental health nurse by background, was named HSJ's chief executive of the year and he is one of the longest serving chief executives in the eastern region.

Mr Cahill said: "When I look back over my time at the trust, I have a deep sense of pride about what we have achieved together. There is much to reflect on – launching our Single Point of Access for people experiencing a mental health crisis, improving our environments for young people and for people with dementia, providing state of the art inpatient facilities and expanding our services into Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk are just a few.

"I want to pay tribute to my colleagues in the trust. We have only been able to achieve these things by working together as a team, no more so than in our response to the Covid-19 pandemic. I am immensely grateful to everyone at HPFT and could not be prouder. I also want to thank colleagues in our partner trusts and across the systems we work in for their support and encouragement."

Sarah Betteley, chairman of the trust, said: "Tom has been a simply outstanding chief executive. I would like to thank him for everything he has done, not just for the people we serve, but for our colleagues within and outside the trust.

"We will all miss Tom greatly, but we know the trust in a strong position and has a very capable and committed leadership team.

"A national recruitment campaign is now under way to find a new Chief Executive for the Trust who will build on the strong legacy which Tom leaves."