On Wednesday 25th March, the government announced the creation of a new NHS Integrated Care Board Chair for Greater Manchester who will also serve as the Mayor’s Health Commissioner. With the aim of strengthening how health and care services work alongside wider public services across the city-region.
Building on Greater Manchester’s long-standing approach to integrating health and public services and its role as England’s first Prevention Demonstrator. The new Chair will also take on a health-focused role within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, working to better integrate health, prevention and wider public services and align NHS leadership with the Mayor’s health and care priorities.
For more information about the announcement visit the GOV website.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester and Co-Chair of Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership said:
“This is a landmark moment in a decade-long journey of health devolution in Greater Manchester. We’ve built a strong model of partnership working across the NHS, local government, our voluntary and faith sectors, and community partners – all focused on improving health for our residents.
“The Secretary of State has recognised those efforts, and we thank him for the action he is taking today.
“A study published in The Lancet in 2022 found that, following the devolution of health and care, healthy life expectancy rose faster in Greater Manchester than other areas before the pandemic.
“Now we have the potential to get back on track and go even further, creating the right conditions for everyone to live healthier lives. A Health Commissioner will help us pioneer a radical new way of delivering public services that’s better for our communities and better for the public purse.
“We’re working with Government on making Greater Manchester the blueprint for prevention. For too long our public services have been trapped in short-term cycles of costly crisis intervention. We want to show that investing in early help is a more effective way of spending public money – providing support to improve people’s lives and prevent them falling into crisis in the first place.”
Louise Shepherd, Regional Director for NHS England in the North West said:
“This role is designed to support closer collaboration across organisations that all have a part to play in improving health.
“Clear leadership and accountability across the system will help ensure services are high quality, financially sustainable and better connected with the wider work taking place across Greater Manchester to improve population health.”
