14 CSSs left without managing directors

Just nine appointments have been made to the managing director posts of the 23 commissioning support services that are being set up for the NHS.

The NHS Commissioning Board Authority announced yesterday that a second round of recruitment will now be run for the £135,000 jobs.

An advert for the posts say that the NHS CB is looking for “experienced leaders” with expertise in outsourcing, shared services, redesign or innovation to lead the CSSs, which will provide a range of ‘back office’, IT and information analysis services.

While the recruitment takes place, the NHS CB has said that “immediate leadership arrangements will be put in place” so that CSSs can make progress with their authorisation process.

Dame Barbara Hakin, the national director of commissioning development, said she was “very pleased” to announce the appointments that have been made, which will lead to further senior management team appointments.

“Our key focus now is to ensure that CSS development continues at a rapid pace over the next few months, as we continue the recruitment process.

“I am confident that CSSs will continue to provide a good service to clinical commissioning groups over the coming months and that, every soon, we will be making further, very high calibre appointments,” she said.

The NHS CB also announced yesterday that it now expects the 23 CSSs that passed its ‘checkpoint 2’ process to make it starting work, and that no CSSs will be stopped at the next review stage, ‘checkpoint 3’.

Instead, it says the focus will now be on making sure that CSSs are the right size to make sure that their income covers their costs and on “making sure they are as good as they can be by April 2013” when they start work.

The nine appointees and their CSSs are: Robert Bacon – Birmingham, Black Country and Solihull Commissioning Support Service; Stephen Childs – North East Commissioning Support; Keith Douglas – Commissioning Support South; Jan Hull – Best West Commissioning Support; Derek Kitchen – Staffordshire Commissioning Support Service; Rachel Pearce – Arden Commissioning Support Service; Andrew Ridley – North Central and East London Commissioning Support Service; Ming Tang – CSS to be confirmed; Sarah Whiting – North West London Commissioning Support Service.