GambleAware appoints former NHS finance director as new CFO
Peter Holt joins gambling-related harm treatment charity
GambleAware has appointed former Health Education England finance director Peter Holt as its new chief financial officer (CFO).
Health sector veteran Peter Holt was most recently London and South East finance director at Health Education England for almost ten years.
Within this role, Holt was responsible for a £1.2bn NHS budget and oversaw the development of a financial strategy to allow for investment in education and training for NHS professionals.
He was previously director of the supply chain transformation programme at the Department of Health, responsible for delivering significant procurement benefits to the NHS.
In his new role, Holt will be tasked with prioritising the development of a long-term business plan to underpin the ongoing commissioning of the National Gambling Treatment service.
GambleAware CEO Marc Etches said he was delighted that Peter Holt would be joining the charity, citing his extensive health-related experience as being essential to GambleAware’s focus on developing a public health model for addressing gambling-related harm. This public health model is part of the wider national strategy for the reduction of gambling-related harms.
Holt cited the need for a public health model to ensure that gambling is better understood as a health and wellbeing issue.
Speaking about his new role, Holt added: “Having worked in the health sector for many years, I am looking forward to working with a talented and committed team to support GambleAware in finalising a multi-year business plan, with a clear financial strategy that is focussed on commissioning high quality, effective prevention and treatment service,”.
As part of this move towards a public health model, GambleAware recently increased its funding to GamCare, commissioning a two-year pilot allowing the National Gambling Helpline to run on a 24 hours a day, 365 days a year basis.