MSK director for England reappointed

Orthopaedic surgeon Peter Kay

Professor Kay specialises in hip and knee surgery at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust and is a member of a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence group that develops guidelines for osteoarthritis.

He is one of 19 clinical directors who were confirmed in post by NHS England on 4 April. The others include Chris Harrison for cancer, Matt Kearney for cardiovascular disease prevention, and Jonathan Valabhji for obesity and diabetes.

NHS England also named seven associated clinical directors responsible for children and young people, diabetes, elective care, mental health and older people.

The organisation’s business plan for 2016-17, published on 31 March, says that its commissioning budget for next year is nearly £106 billion. The majority of this – £72 billion – will be spent by clinical commissioning groups on local health services.

The document warns, however, that the financial viability of the health service relies on reducing demand through prevention, and developing new ways of delivering services, for example making better use of IT and the skills of the workforce.