A NEW chair has been appointed at the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB).
Patrick Vernon will take up the role on a permanent basis after being placed as interim chair of the BSol ICB last January.
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 2026.
Patrick said: “Over the last year as interim chair it’s been a pleasure to meet staff across the system and its 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.”
Previously, he was the first Non-Executive Director to be appointed at the BSol ICB and was appointed to specifically lead inequalities.
In 2012 he was awarded an OBE for his work on tackling health inequalities and in 2019 he was awarded a lifetime achievement award for campaigning and advocacy work by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation.
In 2020 Patrick 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, Patrick 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 l
eadership 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.
He 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.
BSOL ICB 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.
