Dr Pete Chamberlain has been announced as the new chair of NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

He takes on the role from Dr Craig Gillespie who has worked with the CCG as a Governing Body member for eight years and has been in the role of both vice chair and chair in that time. He is now stepping down to focus on his role of clinical director for Crosby, Bootle and Maghull Primary Care Network (PCN).

Pete joined the CCG in 2011 as a lead clinician for strategy and innovation and became a Governing Body member in 2015. During this time Pete has carried out a secondment to Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, focusing on the development of community services in south Sefton. Pete has carried out these roles alongside his day to day work seeing patients in general practice, currently being based at Westway Medical Centre in Maghull.

He is a fellow of The Health Foundation and a trained improvement advisor, having completed the Quality Improvement Fellowship based at the Institute for Health Improvement in Boston, America. Pete has an interest in health information technology, care for older people, long term conditions, improving the quality of health services and innovation within in healthcare.

Talking about his new role of chair, Pete says: “As a local GP it is an honour to be able to serve south Sefton residents through this role.

“It comes at an exciting time where as a local health and social care system, individuals and organisations have demonstrated incredible collaboration, tenacity and dedication in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. I will be helping to facilitate a more joined up way of working with our partners and neighbouring CCGs and building on the great work of Dr Gillespie with the CCG team.”

Dr Craig Gillespie, local GP and clinical director of Crosby, Bootle and Maghull PCN, says: “I think that Pete is a fantastic appointment for the new chair. I hold him in the highest regard as a GP and in his role at the CCG. I feel certain he will achieve great things and continue his relentless focus on achieving the best outcomes for the people of south Sefton.”

Fiona Taylor, chief officer at NHS South Sefton CCG, said: “Although no longer chair, Craig will still very much take a leading role in local services for south Sefton residents and we will continue to work closely with him in his PCN role.

“I would like to say a big thank you to Craig for all he has done in his time as chair and congratulations to Pete as he starts in the role.”