British-born Australian health expert Wilf Williams is to take on the £175,000 job of leading the newly-formed Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

His appointment as accountable officer was announced today after a "rigorous" interview process.

Governing bodies of the eight Kent and Medway CCGs, which will be swallowed up by the new group on April 1, were asked to approve the decision.

NHS Swale CCG was one of the last to agree at its final meeting in Sittingbourne today.

Mr Williams said: "I'm looking forward enormously to working with partners across the NHS and beyond as well as engaging with patients and communities to drive the development of a truly integrated care system.

"Returning to the NHS in Kent and Medway, where I enjoyed many rewarding years earlier in my career, is both a thrill and a privilege.

"I am joining at a time of great opportunity with the merger of the CCGs as the NHS moves into a new era of collaboration as we focus together on helping local people live their best life."

Mr Williams began his NHS career on the General management Training Scheme in 1988.

From 2002 to 2006 he was chief executive of the Canterbury and Coastal Primary Care Trust (PCT) which planned and delivered health and care services to more than 600,000 people.

He was previously chief executive of the Canterbury and Coastal Primary Care Group which became a PCT in 2002.

Since 2006 he has been director of the National Health and Human Services practice in Australia for consultancy firm KPMG where he oversaw a number of projects for the Australian health system and worked on improving health services for service personnel.

He starts the new job on April 1 following a handover from outgoing accountable officer Glenn Douglas.

Mr Williams will be joined on the board by newly-elected clinical chairman GP Dr Navin Kumta who currently chairs Ashford CCG.

Dr Kumta moved to Kent in 2001 and has been working at Willesborough Health Centre since 2005.

He said: “This is a really exciting time for clinically-led commissioning.

"The new Kent and Medway-wide CCG will be looking to take a more strategic approach to improving healthcare for our whole population of around 1.8 million people.

"We’ll be focussing much more on setting the outcomes of better health that we want to see. We’ll then work with the four integrated care partnerships as they design and deliver the most effective care tailored to the needs in their areas.”

The new CCG will be one of Britain's biggest outside London.

It has not yet been decided where its offices will be based.

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