The NHS Commissioning Board has this afternoon announced that four primary care trust and strategic health authority bosses have been appointed as regional directors.

  • North of England director: Richard Barker, currently chief operating officer for the North of England SHA cluster;
  • Midlands and East director: Paul Watson, now chief executive of Suffolk PCT cluster;
  • London director: Anne Rainsberry, chief executive of the North West London PCT cluster and deputy chief executive of NHS London, and;
  • South of England director: Andrea Young, chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of the South of England SHA cluster.

Mr Barker is the only one of the four not to have been a PCT chief executive. He is a former director of commissioning development for the North East SHA, as well as a PCT chief operating officer, and an acute sector executive.

Dr Watson is a former director of commissioning at the East of England SHA, and has held national positions including membership of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence appraisal committee and the Independent Reconfiguration Panel.

Dr Rainsberry has worked both in general management and in human resources roles, including in workforce development for the Department of Health, and more recently as the DH’s human resources director.

Ms Young is a former chief executive of Oxfordshire PCT.

Latest guidance from the NHS Commissioning Board also reveals that £200,000 has been set aside for an “inequalities” director. The guidance says the post will be shared between the board’s medical and transformation directorates.

NHS Commissioning Board chief operating officer Ian Dalton told HSJ: “I was looking for people who had the confidence to work in a more devolved system but also the leadership capacity to help the NHS in their areas deal with the very significant issues it will have to deal with over the next few years.”

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