New NHS funding body launched for our area
A new body has taken over responsibility for planning and funding NHS services for Reading people.
The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB) launched on 1 July as a result of new legislation. It takes over from Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group and will make major decisions about GP and hospital services for our area. It will also oversee NHS dental, pharmacy and eye services, which were previously under the remit of NHS England.
Another new body, the BOB Integrated Care Partnership, has also been created under the reforms, involving NHS, local authorities and organisations like local Healthwatch and voluntary sector representatives, working together to shape local plans.
One of the ICB’s non-executive directors, Margaret Batty, will chair the board’s Population Health & Patient Experience Committee. A former Cabinet Office civil servant, she is global director of policy and campaigns for the international charity Water Aid. Ms Batty is also a non-executive director with the South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust.
