Senior ICS leader to step down and ‘swim Alcatraz’

In a note to staff chief executive of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire CCGs, Lou Patten, said she will not be applying for the new combined role of CCG accountable officer and BOB ICS executive lead.

It was announced in September that the new joint role would be created as part of plans to merge three Thames Valley CCGs – Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire – by April 2021.

CEO of Berkshire West CCG, Cathy Winfield, will be left as the only remaining CCG leader within the BOB ICS after Ms Patten leaves the health system at the end of March 2020.

Ms Patten helped guide Oxfordshire CCG to develop a “more collaborative and distributive leadership” following a damning review of the county’s health system in 2017.

A follow up report published by the CQC at the beginning of this year said there had been a “culture change” across Oxfordshire health organisations which now have a “shared sense of purpose”.

Ms Patten said: “In January 2018 I added the Oxfordshire CCG to my responsibilities, coming in on the back of a poor CQC system leadership report and supporting the system in developing a more collaborative and distributive leadership.

“I am particularly proud of the significant and measurable improvement we have made across the system (evidenced by the CQC review of progress 10 months later) in terms of developing our integrated approach, where there has been noticeable improvements for patients in reducing length of stay.

“We have also made clear decisions in setting a clear future for the Horton Hospital, as well as establishing a new approach to engagement through our Planning Framework that has been adopted by both Health and Wellbeing Boards in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.”

Ms Patten began working in the BOB area in 2009 when she was appointed a managing director of Bucks Urgent Care – where she set up the out of ours service and at GP-led health centre at Wycombe Hospital.

She went on to lead the federation of Aylesbury Vale and Chiltern CCGs – which later merged to form Buckinghamshire CCG in 2018.

Ms Patten added: “It is time to hand over the mantle to a fresh pair of capable hands. I aim to take a few months off to swim Alcatraz and other crazy things, then think about a future role in the NHS.

“I fully support the development of a single BOB accountable officer/ICS leadership; I firmly believe this will bring much needed consistency of approach and benefits of at-scale working, releasing time for local ICPs to develop real integration with local authorities and the voluntary sector.”

Recruitment for the joint accountable officer and executive lead post is expected to begin in January.