Two ICBs to share the same chair

Two very different integrated care boards are to share the same chair. 

Priya Singh, the chair of Frimley ICB, is replacing BOB’s acting chair Sim Scavazza. 

Dr Singh will be BOB’s first substantive chair in 18 months after Javed Khan went on a “period of extended leave” in April last year amid wider concerns about unstable leadership, poor relationships and staff dissatisfaction. The ICB confirmed in January that he had stepped down. 

She is only one of two people to be the chair ot two ICBs. Kathy McClean, chair of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB, took on the same role at Derby and Derbyshire ICB in January. 

Frimley is one of the smallest, least complex and most successful integrated care systems. BOB is much larger, has many NHS and local government members, and has struggled often due to the odd nature of its make up which mean patient flows overlap with many surrounding systems. 

Berkshire West, one of BOB’s three places, aligns more more naturally with the Frimley system. Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust and Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust work across the footprint of both systems. 

The move to a joint chair comes after BOB appointed its first substantive chief executive in two years in September. Nick Broughton took on the role after more than a year as interim.

BOB ICB is in dispute with Oxfordshire County Council over its axing of “place directors” and the centralisation of their teams, which it described as part of efforts to reduce running costs. In July, BOB apologised to the council for a lack of enagement and said that it is “not doing our job properly on multiple aspects”

Dr Singh, a GP by background, has chaired Frimley ICB since 2021 and is also chair at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. Previously, she was deputy chair of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and a member of the London Policing Ethics Panel.

She is also executive director of the Society for Assistance of Medical Families, and has specialised in legal medicine, risk and safety throughout her career.

Dr Broughton said: “[Dr Singh] is ideally placed to lead our board in the next phase of our journey as an ICB and the wider BOB system”. 

Dr Singh said she was “looking forward to collaborating with colleagues, partners, residents and patients across the system to support and improve the health and wellbeing of local people”.

Ms Scavazza will retain her posts as non-executive director and deputy chair.