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For a health secretary who is a known fan of productivity it might seem odd that dozens of non-executive appointments at various national agencies remain in Steve Barclay’s in-tray.
When the CQC advertised for three non-executive directors at the end of last year, the job advert said they would ideally be available from October 2022, but it is now the end of April and no preferred candidates have been appointed by the Department of Health and Social Care, leaving the regulator in a sticky situation.
The Care Quality Commission, HSJ understands, is particularly concerned at this delay. If any further NEDs depart it could leave the board unable to function and the regulator has even raised the issue with the National Audit Office to try to put some short-term plans in place to mitigate for the shortage of NEDs.
The CQC is not alone; several other national agencies appear to have similar appointments delayed, including the beleaguered NHS Blood and Transplant and the UK Health Security Agency, who also advertised for NEDs last summer.
In response, a DHSC spokeswoman confirmed approval of the appointments were indeed with ministers.
True to her word
When HSJ revealed Dame Pauline Philip was stepping down from her role as a national director at NHS England, we did warn you the long-serving performance tsar of robust reputation would not be retiring any time soon.
And, true to her word, she’s been building an increasingly busy portfolio of roles.
The latest, and most interesting to date from an English NHS point of view, is her appointment as a non-executive director at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, as we reported yesterday.
Dame Pauline, who was national director for emergency and elective care from 2016 until she stood down last year, will join the prestigious London trust’s board this summer.
The former Luton and Dunstable FT chief is also chair of the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, and chair of Lifebox, a global non-profit organisation she co-founded, which has a mission of making surgery and anaesthesia safer worldwide.
Meanwhile, Deirdre Kelly, the pioneering paediatric hepatologist who set up the paediatric liver unit at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, has also joined the GSTT board as an NED.
Also on hsj.co.uk today
In London Eye, Ben Clover looks deeper into the £56m owed to Lloyds Banking Group over the collapse of private finance initiative firm Whittington Facilities Limited. And we report that a mental health trust’s NED, who previously worked for NHS England, has stepped down following concerns about content he posted on social media.
