28.03.19
Wide array of NHS figures named as the new NHS Assembly announced
A diverse group of leading NHS figures, disability advocates and charity bosses have been named in the new NHS Assembly including trust chief executives, ex-government advisors, patient representatives and a Guardian columnist.
The NHS has announced that the NHS Assembly, a team of health and social care experts, is to be established by April 2019 and will be tasked with supporting the delivery of the NHS Long-Term Plan.
The 56-strong assembly will be co-chaired by leading GP Clare Gerada and the former head of the King’s Fund and Sir Chris Ham.
The NHS said the assembly has been established to advise the boards of NHS England and NHS Improvement on the delivery of the 10-year plan, and the group will meet for the first time in the spring followed by quarterly get-togethers.
The assembly members have been drawn from national and frontline clinical leaders, patients and carers, health and care system leaders, and the voluntary and social enterprise sectors.
They include Charlotte Pickles, who previously advised Iain Duncan Smith on his welfare reforms, Polly Toynbee who is an NHS policy journalist, and the president of the Royal College of Nursing Anne Marie Rafferty.
The panel also includes two local authority and social care leaders, former NHS England executive Jim Easton, current trust chief executives Steve Dunn and Sir Andrew Cash, patient representatives Lucy Watts who is a prominent health and disability activist and Patients Association chief Rachel Power.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, commented: “The NHS Assembly rightly reflects a wide diversity of patient, public and staff views and expertise.”
“It builds on the inclusive process for designing the NHS Long-Term Plan, and will help guide its implementation in the years to come.”
Co-chair Gerada said that after receiving over 500 applicants, the “quality and range” of the chosen members was a “testament to the special place that the NHS has in the nation’s heart.”
She added: “The NHS Assembly will play a key part in ensuring the delivery of the long-term plan, and therefore shaping the future of the NHS.”
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