• ICB to lose two senior leaders at the same time
  • System expects a large overspend against its plan
  • Four other ICB CEOs due to leave

The chief executive and chief financial officer of an integrated care board under financial strain have both announced their resignation.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB chief Peter Axon said he would leave in the summer, after three years in the role. The ICB’s chief finance officer Paul Brown will also be serving six months’ notice and departing in the summer.

Both have worked in the Staffordshire system for several years and in the NHS for decades.

This announcement comes a few months after the Staffordshire and Stoke system was added to NHSE’s financial “investigation and intervention” programme, due to NHSE having the “greatest [level of] concerns about delivery of [its] financial plan”. This requires them to bring in consultants to advise on reducing spending.

The system has a £90m deficit plan for 2024-25, which it expects to miss by £60m. In May, it had to sign legal “undertakings” with NHSE requiring it to return to “underlying [financial] balance” by March 2026, even though it cast doubt on whether this was possible.

Mr Axon said it was a “tough decision” to leave the ICB and he remained “committed to what the ICB are planning to achieve”.

Chair David Pearson confirmed the board will begin the process of recruiting a replacement CEO in the coming weeks.

Of Mr Brown’s departure, Mr Pearson said he “achieved many things in his time with us”.

Mr Brown said: “The New Year is a time for reflection, and I decided over the break that now is a good time to move on. I said to Peter that I want to work my full six months’ notice so that I can help ensure a good year end and the agreement of a plan for the next financial year.

“I will focus on working with my team and system colleagues to ensure that there is a strong legacy, so that the system can go from strength to strength in the future.”

Mr Brown said he hoped to find a new “challenge” in the NHS.

The interim CEO of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland — another Midlands ICB — is also due to leave in the summer; and ICB CEOs in South West London, Gloucestershire, and Cheshire and Merseyside are also due to leave in the next few months.

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Source

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB 

Source Date

January 2025

Topics