Former boss reveals the scale of the challenges faced by the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust

In a revealing interview, Deborah Lee, former ceo of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, reveals the highs and lows of her eight-year term from a financial crisis to the challenges facing the county.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to your first Weekend Big Read - our attempt to bring you something interesting, insightful, or just entertaining about the county written by a guest writer. And that guest writer could well be you!

On a weekday we are biased towards stories related to businesses, business people, charities, education and training - but on Saturday the door is open to an article on anything you are able to convince us is of interest.

It could be about history, sport, a memory of the county, a comment piece, political, religious, issue-based, challenging, romantic, educational, thought-provoking, a reaction to a news article, an appeal for help… we could go on.

You can pay your way into that spot or charm us with your idea, but it must be interesting, well-written and it needs to have that magic Gloucestershire connection. We want you to feel that Raikes is your platform, and on Saturdays that the stage is yours!

We’ll put your byline on the story, publish it, and share it through our…