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NEW PRIMARY CARE TRUST CHAIR APPOINTED

The Chairs of the new Primary Care Trust in the South West to be introduced on 1st October 2006 have been appointed.

As part of the ongoing reconfiguration of NHS organisations, the existing 32 Primary Care Trusts will be replaced by a total of 14 across the NHS South West area which comprises Avon, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Andrew Williamson CBE has been appointed as chair of the Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust:

Andrew Williamson CBE qualified in Social Work in 1973 having previously worked as a Child Care Officer for Hampshire County Council. A number of management posts in various authorities around the country culminated in moving to Devon in 1990 as Director of Social Services, a post he held for ten years.

In 1992 he was invited to join the Criminal Justice Council for its first three year term and is also a formerHonorary Secretary of the Association of Directors of Social Services.

In April 2000 Andrew was appointed to the post of Chair of the North and East Devon Health Authority and in April 2002 became the Vice Chair of the South West Peninsular Strategic Health Authority. In addition, during the past seven years, he has also worked in various European counties and in local authorities in England and Wales helping to improve services for children and older people.

Declared political activity in the past five years: None
Other ministerial appointments held: None

The NHS Appointments Commission has announced the appointment of Chairs for 13 of the 14 new Primary Care Trusts. As yet, there has been no substantive appointment made to Wiltshire Primary Care Trust and Anthea Millett CBE has been appointed on an interim basis until such an appointment can be made.

Between them, the new Primary Care Trusts will be responsible for around £7 billion of NHS expenditure on behalf of the five million people living in the region. They will commission secondary care services from local NHS Trusts and other health services suppliers and be responsible for the delivery of primary and community care to their local population. In addition, they have a vital new role in developing a new system called practice based commissioning whereby groups of GPs and their primary care teams take greater responsibility for commissioning services for their patients.

The new Chairs are:

• Malcolm Hanney – Bath and North East Somerset Primary Care Trust
• Michelle Howard – Swindon Primary Care Trust
• Jane Barrie OBE – Somerset Primary Care Trust
• Anne Thomas – Dorset Primary Care Trust
• Ruth FitzJohn – Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust
• Sir Chris Clarke OBE – South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust
• Richard Weatherhead – Bristol Teaching Primary Care Trust
• Stephen Harrison – North Somerset Primary Care Trust
• Angela Schofield – Bournemouth and Poole Teaching Primary Care Trust
• Andrew Williamson CBE – Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust
• David Connelly – Plymouth Teaching Primary Care Trust
• Dr David Radford – Devon Primary Care Trust
• Terry Nickels – Torbay Care Trust
• Anthea Millett CBE – Wiltshire Primary Care Trust

The Chair of the South West Strategic Health Authority, Sir Mike Pitt, said: "The new Primary Care Trusts will have a pivotal role to play in the success of the major reform programme for the NHS.

“As well as developing practice based commissioning, they will be in the forefront of efforts to ensure all targets are met, services continue to improve and the NHS in the South West deals with its financial difficulties effectively and returns the Health Community to position of financial balance and, eventually, financial surplus.

“Leading such an organisation within the scale and complexity of the modern NHS requires skills of the highest calibre and the newly appointed Chairs certainly have that.

“I very much look forward to working with them on behalf of patients and local people as the NHS is transformed into a genuinely patient-centred service in the months and years ahead.”