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Three UK experts have been appointed to a new £206,000-a-year advisory board which aims to improve health and social care in the Island... so, who are they?
Carolyn Downs CB, Tony Hunter OBE, and Dame Clare Gerada are the first three non-executive directors of the Health and Community Services Advisory Board.
All three have years of experience in their fields of health, social care and local government.
Health Minister Karen Wilson said the appointments mark “a crucial step in enhancing the quality of healthcare and community services in Jersey... The expertise they will bring will drive positive change and that all three will play a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of care delivered to the people of Jersey.”
Pictured: Health Minister Karen Wilson defended the cost of the board.
Before we get to the experts, what is the board, and what does it do?
The concept of a board came about following a highly critical review of the running of the Health Department published last August. It concluded that current management arrangements were not succeeding and that improved governance was needed at the hospital.
The States Assembly agreed in June that a board should be established to strengthen the leadership and performance of the department, and also agreed that the Board should include an independent Chair and up to five non-executive directors, in addition to the department's executive directors.
It will also prepare the department for inspection by the Jersey Care Commission, developing and implement a clinical and service governance framework, and cultivate a positive and inclusive culture within the department.
The Government is spending around £750,000 on setting up the board, and it is expected to carry a £206,000 annual cost.
This includes £70,000 a year for the Chair, working 48 days a year, and £15,000 each for the five non-executive directors.
Health Minister, Deputy Karen Wilson, previously argued that the £206,000 cost would be worth it because it "will save millions of pounds a year which is currently being spent on inefficiencies and poor quality."
The recruitment and selection process is ongoing.
It is anticipated that an announcement about the final two non-executive directors and the substantive Chair will be made in the coming weeks. The substantive Chair will take over from the current Chair, Hugo Mascie-Taylor, whose fixed-term contract concludes at the end of November 2023.
Having first trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley hospital, Clare became a GP and worked in her practice in South London for more than 30 years.
She held several national leadership positions including Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in 2010. She was the second woman in its 55-year history to hold this position, and has led the way in reforming how drug users are managed in general practice and was awarded an MBE for her services to medicine and substance misuse in 2000.
She has also led the development of a service for doctors and dentists with mental health problems, establishing and leading NHS Practitioner Health from 2008 to 2022.
Currently, Clare leads a service for problem gamblers, chairs the new charity Doctors in Distress, and is co-chair of the NHS Assembly. In November 2021 she became the President of the RCGP.
Tony has 40 years' experience spanning a full range of roles across sectors. His most recent full-time post (2014 to 2020) was Chief Executive at the Social Care Institute for Excellence where he led on a series of regional, local and Department of Health and Social Care initiatives aimed at systems integration and improved experiences and outcomes.
He also led a range of children's related projects, including the Department for Education-funded Mental Health of Looked After Children programme and the development of the Children's What Works Centre.
A Liverpool City Council director from 2003, Tony became Chief Executive of North East Lincolnshire Council in 2008. He was president of the Association of Directors of Social Services in 2005, and was President-elect for the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) before taking up his SCIE chief executive role.
Most recently she was the Chief Executive of the London Borough of Brent from 2015 to 2023.
Prior to that, she served as Chief Executive of the Local Government Association (LGA) from 2011 to 15. She has also previously served as Chief Executive of the Legal Services Commission, Chief Executive of Shropshire County Council, and as Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice.
She was awarded the honour of Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2011 for services to Local and National Government.
She is now retired from full-time employment and is a senior advisor for the private company Newton Europe, a NED for the NWL Collaborative of 4 Acute trust hospitals and is also a member of the London Policing Board.
Islanders are being invited to attend the first board meeting at St Paul's Centre at 9.30am on Wednesday 4 October.
Questions can be submitted in advance through gov.je.
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