The chair of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement has resigned ahead of its reconfiguration as part of the government’s quango cull.
Dame Yve Buckland, who has been in post for seven years, has announced that she is to step down in December to “pursue other interests”.
Her departure follows that of former chief executive Professor Bernard Crump over the summer. He had also been at the institute since its creation on 1 July 2005.
An interim leadership team for the institute was unveiled in July, with Department of Health national director for improvement and efficiency Jim Easton overseeing major decisions.
Former Barts and the London Trust chief executive Julian Nettel was appointed interim managing director and Kingsley Manning, former executive chair for health at consultancy firm Tribal, became interim director of strategy.
Under the government’s review of arms length bodies, the institute will cease to be a special health authority and take on a new, more commercial organisational form such as a government owned company.
In a statement on her decision to leave the institute, Dame Yve said: “This is a good opportunity to appoint a new chairman for the next phase of the NHS institute’s development.”
She added: “I have very much enjoyed my seven years as board chairman. I am extraordinarily proud of what we have managed to achieve during that period. A £7bn productivity opportunity is quite a legacy. It’s what the NHS needs badly so I have no doubt that the new NHS institute will go from strength to strength.
“I will be doing all I can in the short term to enable a new transition and handover to a new chairman.”
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