Recruitment to Chair of the NHS Integrated Care Board

Further to the publication of the Government’s White Paper (Integration and Innovation) on 11 February 2021 and subject to final Parliamentary approval, integrated care systems (ICS) are expected to become statutory partnerships on 1 April 2022. The House of Commons recently voted to give the Health and Care Bill a Second Reading. The Bill contains a series of measures which would formally establish ICSs and give their governing bodies – including an NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICB) – a broader range of responsibilities, empowering them to better join up health and care, improve population health and reduce health inequalities. While we cannot pre-empt the decisions of Parliament, the Bill receiving a positive vote at Second Reading means there is a degree of confidence that the measures relating to ICSs will become law.

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, which is an integrated care system, is looking to appoint a partnership-focused, insightful, and values-based chair to help lead transition into a new NHS ICS statutory body and beyond.

This will require balancing of priorities and significant engagement with a range of partners. As well as people who use services and communities, this will include groups of senior executives, non-executive and elected leaders in the NHS, local authorities, voluntary community, and social enterprise sector (VCSE), hospices, businesses, regulators, universities, and further education colleges. The successful candidate will be independent of all stakeholders and partnerships within the integrated care system – and will demonstrate the highest level of professional integrity and probity.

Values and behaviours will be fundamental to the role, and the chair must be a respected, compassionate, and an inclusive leader with the ability to build and sustain successful partnerships. Most of all, the candidate should be passionate about addressing inequalities and achieving the best possible health and care for all people.

WYHHCP are committed to improving the diversity of our leadership as demonstrated in our West Yorkshire and Harrogate review report to tackle health inequalities for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and colleagues: Understanding impact, reducing inequalities, supporting recovery so that it is more representative of the people we serve.

WYHHCP encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.

For a confidential discussion regarding the role, please contact rob.webster1@nhs.net

You can apply online here or read more about the work of our Partnership on our website at www.wyhpartnership.co.uk. You can also follow us on twitter @wyhpartnership.

The closing date is 17 August 2021.