A healthcare boss is on ‘period of extended leave’ after concerns around unstable leadership, poor relationships and staff dissatisfaction at the integrated care board.

The chair of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board Javed Khan has been on extended leave since around the beginning of April, the organisation has confirmed.

The reason for his extended leave remained unconfirmed by Mr Khan and the ICB, Health Service Journal reported.

Mr Khan was previously the CEO of Barnado’s and he recently delivered a national policy review for ministers. He is also a non-executive director of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, which declined to comment to Health Service Journal whether he would continue in the post.

Now the ICB faces a leadership vacuum, investigation by the Health Service Journal found.

Its CEO and former Number 10 Downing Street health adviser James Kent quit in the autumn, the process to find a successor has been abandoned and the interim CEO is due to exit in June, HSJ learned.

Currently the vice chair Sim Scavazza is standing in as interim chair.

‘Serious concerns’ about leadership

 

Senior sources within the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB system and wider region raised serious concerns about the state of the ICB and its leadership when speaking to Health Service Journal.

Problems told to HSJ included concerns about Mr Khan’s behaviour and style of working, including by other ICB staff and very poor staff satisfaction at the BOB ICB where the lowest proportion of staff at any ICB would recommend it as a place of work in the national NHS staff survey last year.

Concerns raised also included a purported lack of engagement by Mr Khan with chairs of the trusts in the system, who say they had recently made plans to raise formal concerns with NHS England about this and the future of the ICB’s leadership, HSJ reported.

The problems cited to HSJ included “poor relationship with local authorities in the area”, leading to problems establishing an integrated care partnership.

Last summer the leader of Buckinghamshire Council Martin Tett told HSJ the integrated care system meant that “relationships between local government and the NHS have never been worse”.

Staff also raised concerns about the departure of the CEO Dr Kent, failure to replace him and high turnover of other executive directors with at least five having left over the past year.

Six senior executive posts alongside the CEO position, are filled by interims, including the chief people officer, strategy director, primary care director and communications and engagement director among others, HSJ reported.

Mr Khan was appointed as the ICB chair in October 2021 before it became a statutory body in July last year.

What is Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board?

 

The BOB ICB replaced the three clinical commissioning groups in the area.

The ICB and five local councils are responsible for planning and providing health and care services for almost two million people in Bucks, Oxfordshire and West Berks, Reading and Wokingham, including local health and wellbeing strategies.