‘Toxic’ CCG appoints new chair

Sheffield CCG announced the appointment of local GP Terry Hudsen following an election involving the governing body members.

Dr Hudsen started his new role on 2 September and took over from Tim Moorhead, who stepped down at the end of August after seven years in the role.

Dr Hudsen has worked as a GP in Sheffield for six years and has been a GP member of the governing body since 2017. He is currently GP principal at the University of Sheffield health service. 

He said it was an “exciting time” to take on the role of chair.

“I look forward to working with staff, members, our partners and the public in making a positive difference to the lives of Sheffield people,” he said.

Lesley Smith, accountable officer at Sheffield CCG, said: “As well as improving clinical safety, Dr Hudsen is passionate about leading a CCG which considers the voice of the diverse population in all our decisions.”

In the summer, the CCG published an improvement plan following several delays, which pledged to give staff more support in pursuing bullying and harassment cases and bring forward a review of its whistleblowing policy, among other proposals. 

The improvement plan followed a critical NHS England-commissioned independent investigation of the CCG, which identified issues of poor behaviour from senior CCG staff and dissatisfaction over the handling of bullying and harassment cases.

Multiple sources, including current and former staff, also told HSJ the culture in the CCG was “toxic”.

Until the recent concerns about leadership were revealed, Sheffield had been seen as a relatively well performing and stable CCG for several years.

HSJ also reported the CCG’s accountable officer Maddy Ruff resigned and would take a job at Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership, a sustainability and transformation partnership covering Humber and east and north Yorkshire. She was replaced by Ms Smith earlier this summer.