Denise Harker has been appointed as the Chair of the NHS Sussex Board, following the Board meetings of NHS Brighton and Hove, NHS West Sussex, NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald, and NHS Hastings and Rother, the four primary care trusts (PCTs) which form the Sussex PCT Cluster.
The NHS Sussex Cluster Board will discharge some functions of the four PCTs as described by the standing orders, reservation and delegation of powers and standing financial instructions approved by each PCT at their Board meetings last week.
NHS Sussex Chief Executive, Amanda Fadero said: “I’m delighted to have Denise alongside me to take the NHS in Sussex forward through the reforms. I am confident that we have an excellent team to lead us to a vibrant GP commissioning consortia landscape and establish even greater partnership working with our local authority and voluntary sector colleagues.”
Denise Harker said: “This is a challenging time for the NHS in Sussex and I will endeavour to bring rigour and passion to making the future NHS the best possible for patients, our staff and the public.”
Denise Harker has been appointed as Chair until April 2013 and her renumeration for this role is £42,033 per annum.
This appointment has been made in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice.
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the Nolan recommendations, any declared political activity is made public.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Denise Harker
Denise’s background is as a management accountant. Born and educated in Kent, she started her career at Reed International plc completing her accountancy training in 1977.
Her experience also includes working as Managing Director for London News Network Ltd and Financial Controller of Programme Production and Facilities for TVS Television.
As well as being Chair of the NHS Sussex Cluster, Denise is also a trustee of the Rory Peck Trust and a Governor at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. She was previously Chair of NHS Medway, a non-executive director at the Met Office and at Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.
Sussex PCT Cluster
The Cluster will support the new and developing GP consortia across Sussex and help to foster relationships with local authorities as they move towards taking on new roles and responsibilities as set out in the Health and Social Care Bill.
Clusters are not statutory organisations but it has been delegated powers via schemes of delegation from each of the constituent primary care trusts.
