The first round of appointments to local area team director posts has been made by the NHS Commissioning Board Authority.  The first 16 of the 25 director posts have been appointed to, as follows:

North

• Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral: Moira Dumma (currently Director of Commissioning Development at NHS Midlands and East SHA Cluster)
• Merseyside: Clare Duggan (currently Director of Strategic Change at NHS Merseyside PCT Cluster)
• Greater Manchester: Mike Burrows (currently Chief Executive of NHS Greater Manchester PCT Cluster)
• South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw: Andy Buck (currently Chief Executive of NHS South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw PCT Cluster)
• North Yorkshire and Humber: Chris Long (currently Chief Executive of NHS North Yorkshire and York PCT Cluster and NHS Humberside PCT Cluster)
• Durham, Darlington and Tees: Cameron Ward (currently Director of Commissioning Development at NHS North of England SHA Cluster)

Midlands and East

• Essex: Andrew Pike (currently Chief Executive of South Essex PCT Cluster)
• Hertfordshire and the South Midlands: Jane Halpin (currently Chief Executive of NHS Hertfordshire PCT Cluster)
• Leicestershire and Lincolnshire: David Sharp (currently Chief Executive of NHS Derbyshire PCT Cluster)
• Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire: Derek Bray (currently Chief Executive of NHS Nottinghamshire PCT Cluster)
• Shropshire and Staffordshire: Graham Urwin (currently Chief Executive of NHS Staffordshire PCT Cluster)
• Birmingham and the Black Country: Wendy Saviour (currently Director of Partnerships at NHS Commissioning Board Authority)

London

• London: Simon Weldon (currently Director of Operations and Delivery at North West London Commissioning Partnership)

South of England

• Surrey and Sussex: Amanda Fadero (currently Chief Executive of NHS Sussex PCT Cluster)
• Wessex:  Debbie Fleming (currently Chief Executive of Southampton, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth PCT Cluster)
• Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly: Ann James (currently Chief Executive of NHS Devon, Plymouth and Torbay PCT Cluster)

Ian Dalton, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive of the NHS Commissioning Board Authority said: “I am delighted that we have made these key appointments to such important leadership posts.  This puts us in a position to quickly develop the local presence of the NHS Commissioning Board, building strong relationships with our partners and communities to firmly focus on driving improvement for our patients.”

Background information about local area teams:

There will be 27 local area teams with staff working from a number of office bases across their geographical area. All local area teams will have the same core functions around clinical commissioning group (CCG) development and assurance, emergency planning, resilience and response, quality and safety, configuration, system oversight and partnerships and stakeholder engagement, with the senior leadership of the local area team participating as a full partner on health and wellbeing boards.

There will be variations around the scope of direct commissioning responsibilities.  All local area teams will take on direct commissioning responsibilities for GP services, dental services, pharmacy and certain aspects of optical services, while ten local area teams will lead on specialised commissioning across England.  A smaller number of local area teams will carry out the direct commissioning of other services, such as military and prison health.

In London there will be a more integrated structure with one director for three local area teams working as an essential part of the overall pan-London arrangements for direct commissioning and functions supporting the delivery of service innovation. These arrangements reflect both the distinct nature of the London region and the need to ensure effective working with partners at both a borough and London-wide level.

The NHS Commissioning Board takes on its full statutory responsibilities in April 2013. In the meantime, all current NHS planning and delivery responsibilities remain with the Department of Health, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts.

The next round of recruitment to the remaining director posts is taking place shortly.

For further information about local area teams please see our local area team briefing pack.

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