• Plans for a single accountable officer for three Leicestershire and Rutland CCGs have stalled
  • East Leicestershire and Rutland expressed concern that a single AO and team would not ensure the different needs of patients are met

Plans to appoint a joint accountable officer for three clinical commissioning groups in the Midlands have stalled after concerns from one of the organisations.

Earlier this year, Leicester City, West Leicestershire, and East Leicestershire and Rutland CCGs agreed in principle to appoint a single accountable officer.

But East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG decided not to proceed with the final proposals in June, due to concerns about the “ability and capacity of a single AO and management team to ensure three separate organisations can continue to meet the different and complex needs of patients”.

It is now proposed that a further piece of work be carried out to look at these issues, with a final recommendation in November.

Last week, it was announced that Toby Sanders would be leaving West Leicestershire CCG to become joint accountable officer for two CCGs in the troubled Northamptonshire health economy.

Karen English, of East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG, and Sue Lock, of Leicester City CCG, are still in post.

In a statement, Leicester City CCG said the move towards a single AO “may be a step along the journey towards a future merger”.

It added: “This work is expected to be undertaken in early 2019 and conclude by mid-2019, subject to approval by individual CCG governing bodies,” it said.

A spokesman for East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG said: “We value the collaborative working arrangements we have with our neighbouring CCGs and support the need to build on this further.”

Troubled Northamptonshire

Toby Sanders is moving from his role as the accountable officer for West Leicestershire CCG to become joint chief executive of Nene and Corby CCGs.

He will replace the retiring Carole Dehghani, who was accountable officer on a permanent basis at Corby, and on an interim basis at Nene, later this year.

He will start in the role as Corby CCG grapples with the consequences of a High Court decision that scuppered plans to replace a walk-in urgent care centre with an appointment-only primary care hub.

Meanwhile, the Care Quality Commission said last month that a “lack of trust” between organisations in Northamptonshire that was hampering progress towards system integration.  

Source

East Leicesteshire and Rutland CCG board papers

Source date

July 2018

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