Maria Morris and Dr John Dean appointed to key leadership roles

Posted in News on 31st August, 2016

NHS England has announced the appointment of leading clinicians to support and advise the direct commissioning of specialised services.

Clinical experts and practitioners in their specialist fields have been appointed as Chairs of Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs), helping to identify and develop new treatments, services and standards across specialised commissioning, and ensuring best value is achieved within the resources available.

Following a competitive process, Dr John Dean, Consultant Psychiatrist for Devon Partnership NHS Trust's gender service has been re-appointed as Chair of the Gender Identity Services CRG and for the first time, the role will be a formal, remunerated NHS England position - recognising the importance of the position both in terms of providing expert clinical advice and oversight in their specialist area, as well as contributing to the wider strategic and clinical development of specialised services.

Maria Morris, Clinical Team Lead for Devon Partnership NHS Trust's service has been appointed as the representative for the South Region in the Gender Identity Services CRG. Maria’s appointment is a voluntary role for a period of three years Both Maria and John are proud of these key appointments and are looking forward to being able to continue to influence gender services at a national level.

About NHS England specialised services

The specialised services commissioned by NHS England – which have a combined annual budget of around £15.66bn in 2016/17 - are grouped into six National Programmes of Care (NPoC), each of which is then supported by CRGs focussing on specific clinical specialties.

CRGs and their members play a significant role: leading the development of clinical commissioning policy, service specifications and quality dashboards, advising on service reviews (what is done where and how), horizon-scanning and advising on innovation, identifying opportunities to reduce clinical variation and delivering value.

Under the new Strategic Framework for Specialised Services, CRGs will also be expected to identify best practice in different places, helping to spread innovation and improve outcomes for all patients, as well as identify where outdated and poor value treatments, drugs and devices should no longer be supported, creating space and finance for the new. The appointment of Chairs to the new CRGs was a competitive process, with the roles – advertised in April - attracting a combined 600 applications for chairs and members across the 42 CRGs. Chairs are appointed to serve for three years.

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Maria Morris and Dr John Dean appointed to key leadership roles

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