Hi everyone,

Welcome to my latest blog post. I hope everyone had chance to enjoy the sunshine over the Easter Bank Holiday. We’ve had another busy month here at the CCG, I’ll talk you through some of the highlights.

As a clinical commissioning group we have an annual review by our regulator, NHS England. All CCGs have these assessments to ensure we operate successfully and that we are delivering what we say we will for the people living in Sheffield.

We have recently had our annual review for this year. The initial feedback was really positive and is proof of how hard our staff work. The review picked up lots of different topics, some of the areas we were commended on include: our delivery of all the financial standards, our continued work to improve mental health services, and our focus on primary care development – to name just a few.

Last year we were rated as a ‘good’ CCG and we hope that we will be at least this again this year when the results are announced. We’ll be sure to keep you updated.

We have appointed a new lay member to our governing body. Anthea Morris, who started in April, will be the CCG’s Audit and Integrated Governance Chair and also the Conflicts of Interest Guardian. I would like to say a big welcome to Anthea on behalf of the Governing Body and the rest of our staff. Lay members are a key part of our Governing Body and bring specific expertise and experience to the role. I look forward to working with Anthea.

Anthea replaces Phil Taylor who was a lay member from 2016 until his term of office ended in March this year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Phil for all his hard work and commitment during his time with Sheffield CCG.

You can find out more about our Governing Body, including lay members, on our website here.

We have another bank holiday coming up, hopefully we will be fortunate enough to have the same sunny weather we had over Easter! If we do get hot weather, remember to look after your skin by using sunscreen and staying in the shade during the hottest part of the day. Also remember to keep drinking lots of water to stay hydrated.

Your local pharmacists can advise on keeping safe in the sun, as well as providing advice and treatment for a range of minor illnesses and ailments. More info on staying well this bank holiday is available here.

Have a great long weekend, enjoy it if you can. I’ll be spending my weekend cheering on my daughter at her break dancing event at Sadler’s Wells theatre in London.

Until next time,

Tim