NHS Liverpool CCG has announced a new chair after the previous chair left following backlash over unusually high board member salaries.
Dr Simon Bowers, a GP at Fulwood Green Medical Centre in Aigburth, has been elected as the new chair of NHS Liverpool CCG.
Having previously served on the governing body as clinical vice chair since 2013, Dr Bowers will replace Dr Nadim Fazlani with immediate effect.
NHS Liverpool CCG has announced a new chair after the previous chair left following backlash over unusually high board member salaries.
Dr Simon Bowers, a GP at Fulwood Green Medical Centre in Aigburth, has been elected as the new chair of NHS Liverpool CCG.
Having previously served on the governing body as clinical vice chair since 2013, Dr Bowers will replace Dr Nadim Fazlani with immediate effect.
Dr Fazlani decided to step down as chair of the CCG earlier this month, when it was discovered that pay for fellow board members increased, in some cases, by 43%.
NHS England was asked to review the pay of the CCG leaders in Liverpool in March after Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire, raised concerns with the Prime Minister in Parliament.
The NHS England report, in the CCG’s board papers, found that pay for governing body members ‘was significantly higher than a peer group of ten other CCGs selected based on allocation’.
It added that ‘the chair, chief finance officer and chief nurse had the highest pay in their peer group’, while ‘the two lay members were paid significantly more than any of their peer group’.
This resulted in the resignation of the lay vice-chair, Professor Maureen Williams, in early June.
Dr Fazlani followed suit this month. He was chair of the CCG for five years and was expected to stay in the post until 2018.
Dr Simon Bowers said of this new appointment as chair: ‘I take this role on at an extremely challenging time for the NHS nationally.
‘In Liverpool, the system is busier than at any time in the NHS’ history, at a time when austerity is biting harder in our city than almost anywhere in the UK.
‘Getting services right for our community has never been more vital and I feel privileged to be able to work with GP, hospital, community and social care colleagues to strive to improve the care we deliver to the people of Liverpool.’
