Jonathon Fagge, the new chief officer for Norwich CCG.

A new chief officer has been appointed to the body which will oversee Norwich’s health services from next April.

The governing body of NHS Norwich Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has appointed Jonathon Fagge as its chief officer.

Norwich CCG is led by family doctors and nurses but has a small team of expert managers, which will be led by Mr Fagge to drive its work forward.

From April 1, 2013, CCGs will receive a budget from the Department of Health to buy and plan local NHS services.

This involves working out what is needed by the local population then buying that service from the best provider. This might mean continuing with an existing service or changing it because there are new and better ways of caring for patients.

Mr Fagge said: “One of our most significant challenges is to continue improving the quality of patient care at a time when demand is rising but our budget is not.

“I firmly believe that the solutions will be found in partnership working. This means drawing on the collective experience of the 23 GP practices which form our CCG, integrating services across health and social care, working in partnership with local government and collaborating with providers across the NHS, independent, and voluntary sectors to ensure that the rights and interests of patients are put first.”