Health board appoints permanent chairman to help lead organisation for next two years

Patrick Vernon has been appointed as the substantive chair of Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board.

The chair appointment is made by NHS England with the approval of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and is effective until January 3, 2026.

Patrick has been interim chair of the Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB) since January 2023.

Prior to that, he was the first non-executive director to be appointed at the BSol ICB and was appointed to specifically lead inequalities.

He was the first NED lead for inequalities to be appointed in England and received an OBE in 2012 for his work on tackling health inequalities.

In 2019 he was awarded a lifetime achievement award for campaigning and advocacy work by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation.

Patrick is a former non-executive director for Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust and Healthwatch England.

In 2020 he established the Majonzi Fund, which is providing grants to families and community organisations to hold commemoration events for individuals from Black and racialised communities who have died from Covid-19 during the pandemic.

Alongside his work for the ICB, he also chairs the Walsall Together Partnership Board working to create happier partnership working in the locality.

In August 2021 Patrick was appointed by Wolverhampton University as honorary professor of cultural heritage and community leadership for the Department of Community Development.

In 2020 he was selected by British Vogue as one of Britain’s top 20 campaigners and was included in the 2020 power list of 100 influential black people in Britain.

Patrick spearheaded a successful campaign leading to the creation of the annual Windrush Day, a national day acknowledging the migrant contribution to UK society including contributions to the NHS.

Speaking about his appointment, he said: “I’m delighted to have been appointed as the substantive chair of our integrated care board.

"Over the last year as interim chair it’s been a pleasure to meet staff across the system and it's been fantastic to see even just a small fraction of the brilliant work that’s happening.

“I’m looking forward to continuing to lead our integrated care board and integrated care partnership through the next stage of our work.

"Critical throughout will be maintaining our focus on improving services for patients, creating a better system to work in for our staff and pushing on with work to tackle long standing health inequalities.”

Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board chief executive David Melbourne said: “Over the last year Patrick has shown a remarkable ability to bring people together and has continued to shine a spotlight on the importance of tackling health inequalities.

"On behalf of our system, I would like to congratulate Patrick on his appointment and look forward to continuing to work together in the interests of patients and our community.”

Patrick will also continue as one of three co-chairs of Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Partnership.