Finance chief to lead system

Sarah Truelove will take over as CEO of Gloucestershire ICB later this year when its longstanding chief, Mary Hutton, retires in the summer. Speaking to HSJ, Ms Hutton said the financial settlement for the coming year meant the NHS would not be able to do “nice-to-haves” (see below).

When Ms Truelove takes over, it will mean all the NHS provider organisations and the commissioner in Gloucestershire will have changed leaders in a little over two years.

Ms Truelove has been the chief finance officer and deputy chief executive of Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire ICB since 2018.

She joined the NHS as a graduate trainee specialising in finance and worked her way to the role of chief finance officer – a position she has held for more than 20 years in a range of commissioning and provider organisations. This includes seven years for Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust and the former Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust.

Announcing the move, Ms Truelove said: “There is no doubt that the coming years are going to present huge service and financial challenges for the NHS and care partners as we continue recovery, deliver on the health priorities of local people and prepare the ground for a strong and sustainable NHS longer term.

“I know from my own experience that I’m joining a system in Gloucestershire that has a very strong tradition for close partnership working and this will be essential as we tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead together.”

Dame Gill Morgan, chair of Gloucestershire ICB, added: “I’m so pleased that we are in a position to appoint such a strong and well respected leader for Gloucestershire. Sarah’s experience, knowledge and her determination and dynamism to provide the best possible care in such a challenging financial environment will stand the county in very good stead.”

‘We can’t do nice-to-haves’

Ms Hutton has been the chief executive of Gloucestershire ICB since it was established in 2022, and before that was accountable officer of the county’s former clinical commissioning group since its creation in 2013.

In an interview with HSJ, she said a key focus for Gloucestershire ICB was hospital admission avoidance by providing more services in the community, particularly for frail patients. While severe frailty in the county has increased by 30 per cent in the last five years, hospital admissions have reduced.

She said: “Everybody must be thinking about this, if we don’t do something now about the really big increase in particularly over-85s, a lot of our services will just become overwhelmed. So, we’ve been investing more in a frailty model in the community, working with our integrated neighbourhood teams.

“We’ve got to stop people being just sent places to wait. Unless you change the pathway for people, they will follow the traditional pathway, which is automatically more increases in admissions and attendance.

“We also want to really focus on stopping people getting to the [A&E] front door when there’s lots of alternatives for them.”

But Ms Hutton acknowledged the financial settlement for Gloucestershire will be “challenging” next year.

She said: “We can’t do all the nice-to-have things, that’s not possible. We have to focus on the areas that will help us with finance, quality and performance. It isn’t easy, but I do understand that the NHS has been given a settlement in difficult circumstances, and we’ve got to do the best we can do.”