17.09.18
New boss appointed for North Durham cross-CCG leadership team
Dr Neil O’Brien has been chosen to head a joint leadership and management team across five north east clinical commissioning groups.
NHS CCGs across Durham and Tees Valley will work together under the newly appointed accountable officer who will oversee NHS North Durham, NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield, NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees and NHS Darlington CCG, although they will all remain independent organisations.
The five CCGs have been working together since early 2018, with North Durham CCG saying that aim of the collaboration is “combining skills and resources to improve delivery” and that “the appointment of Dr O’Brien is the next step to achieve this.”
O’Brien said: “I am delighted to have been chosen for this exciting role and I am really looking forward, with the staff across the CCGs, to continue the excellent work taking place with partners across our local health and care systems.
“I am passionate about the NHS in our area and I am fully committed to ensuring our collaborative working is the best it can be.
“The CCGs will very much remain as separate organisations but by working together, we will be able to share expertise and deliver the best outcome for patients locally and regionally across Durham and Tees Valley, which is of course the ultimate goal.”
He will replace the current accountable officers at the CCGs in October, with Ali Wilson at Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees CCGs retiring, and Andrea Jones continuing in a senior clinical leadership role supporting O’Brien during the transition.
He will continue to work with hospital trust and local authority partners to develop arrangements for planning and provision of primary and community care and health and social care integration.
O’Brien, who is currently the chief clinical officer at North Durham CCG, has been a GP in Chester-Le-Street for 16 years.
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Image credit - Marbury