Chair appointed for Sussex PCT cluster

It follows the board meetings of the four primary care trusts which form the Sussex PCT cluster – NHS Brighton and Hove, NHS West Sussex, NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald, and NHS Hastings and Rother.

Ms Harker has been appointed as chair until April 2013 and her renumeration for this role is £42,033 per annum.

A management accountant by background, she was previously chair of NHS Medway and has been a non-executive director at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

She said: “This is a challenging time for the NHS in Sussex and I will endeavour to bring rigour and passion to making the future NHS the best possible for patients, our staff and the public.”

NHS Sussex chief executive Amanda Fadero said: “I’m delighted to have Denise alongside me to take the NHS in Sussex forward through the reforms.

“I am confident that we have an excellent team to lead us to a vibrant GP commissioning consortia landscape and establish even greater partnership working with our local authority and voluntary sector colleagues.”