A single accountable officer has been appointed to oversee a shared leadership team across three North Yorkshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).
The current chief officer of Harrogate and Rural District CCG, Amanda Bloor, has been appointed to the post by NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens and will commence her new role on 1 December 2018.
In September this year, all three CCG Governing Bodies voted to introduce a shared senior leadership team across NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG, NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG and NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG.
Each CCG will remain a separate statutory organisation responsible for the purchasing and planning of the vast majority of health services across their area.
Dr Charles Parker, clinical chair, NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG said: “It is imperative that organisations across the NHS landscape think creatively about how we can ensure every pound spent is spent well. This new approach will help us deliver more sustainably by allowing us to think across the health care system, while retaining our responsiveness to local need.”
Dr Phil Garnett, clinical chair, NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG, said: “We are seeing more and more examples of local health and care organisations coming together to work across organisational boundaries to deliver more integrated models of care and treatment.
“With a growing and aging population exerting greater pressure on finite NHS resources, it seems entirely sensible for CCGs to work more closely together, to bring together assets and capabilities to improve care and patient outcomes in a way that demonstrates wise stewardship of taxpayers’ money at the same time.”
Dr Alistair Ingram, clinical chair, NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG, said: “This new approach will allow us to have the best of both worlds – the system benefits of thinking at scale, while still delivering clinically led services which respond to local need. We will ensure we retain the benefit of local commissioning but with a system-wide perspective.”
Amanda Bloor said: “A shared team across the three North Yorkshire CCGs will enable collaboration and work at scale when it is appropriate while ensuring local needs remain at the heart of each CCG’s activities. While there will be a single leadership team a strong local focus and clinical leadership will continue to underpin our work.
“I am looking forward to developing new relationships and building on old while we collectively continue to ensure quality healthcare services that meet the needs of our population across North Yorkshire.”
Once officially in post after 1 December 2018, a single senior management team will be established that fits the needs of the three CCGs and their local populations. A group representing all three CCG Governing Bodies will also be set up.
Simon Cox, NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG chief officer and Janet Probert, NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG chief officer, will remain in their current roles for a few more weeks to ensure there is a smooth transition.
