Partnership appoints senior roles for NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB)

Posted on: 1 March 2022

Our Partnership, an integrated care system, has confirmed local place-based accountable officers and designate directors for the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. This is ahead of West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership taking on statutory responsibilities as anticipated from July 2022, as part of the new Health and Care Act. 

The five place leads for the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board are:

Photographs of Mel Pickup, Robin Tuddenham, Carol McKenna, Tim Ryley and Jo Webster

  • Mel Pickup, Bradford District and Craven: As well as place-based lead for Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership, Mel has been Chief Executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2019. She started her career as a registered general nurse in 1990 and is a CEO member of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts.
  • Robin Tuddenham, Calderdale: Robin has been CEO at Calderdale Council since June 2017 and the Accountable Officer for NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group since October 2020.  He is responsible for supporting system leadership across Calderdale with public, private, and voluntary sector leaders in support of Calderdale Vision 2024 and overseeing a £600m capital programme across the borough. Robin is Co-Chair of the WY HCP  Improving Population Health Programme.
  • Carol McKenna, Kirklees: Carol is currently the Accountable Officer for Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group. She is the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Chair of the Primary and Community Care Programme, and the Partnership’s lead for the West Yorkshire Vaccine Programme. Carol joined the NHS 30 years ago and is proud to have spent the last 22 years in senior roles in Kirklees.
  • Tim Ryley, Leeds: Tim is currently the Accountable Officer for Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group. Tim joined the NHS 19 years ago as a primary care service improvement manager, covering older people and medicines management. In the NHS he has worked in several general management roles including clinical governance and quality assurance, risk management and corporate governance, programme management, strategy, and planning.
  • Jo Webster, Wakefield: Jo is the place-based lead for Wakefield District Health & Care Partnership. She is also Chief Officer of NHS Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group, Corporate Director for Adults and Health at Wakefield Council and, from March 2022, has responsibility for community services at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. This gives her overall responsibility for integrating health and care for the whole of the area. She is one of the first leaders in England to have three executive roles across one local health and care system. Jo’s background in front line care services and commissioning spans more than 25 years and has included leading major service reconfigurations and transformational change programmes.

The integrated care board designate directors are:

Photographs of Beverley Geary, Dr James Thomas, Jonathan Webb, Kate Sims and Ian Holmes

  • Beverley Geary, Director of Nursing: Beverley is currently the Executive Chief Nurse at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She has been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years. More recently, Beverley was Humber Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership regional nursing workforce lead, Chair for the Local Maternity System, and lead provider senior responsible officer for their COVID-19 vaccination programme. Beverley will provide leadership to the WY HCP clinical and professional directorate, alongside Dr James Thomas.​​​​​​​
  • Dr James Thomas, Medical Director: James is a GP and has most recently been the Clinical Chair for Bradford District and Craven's Clinical Commissioning Group. He is also the Chair of WY HCP Clinical Forum and Co-Chair of WY HCP  Improving Population Health Board. James, alongside the director of nursing will provide leadership to the WY HCP clinical and professional directorate.​​​​​​​
  • Jonathan Webb, Director of Finance: Jonathan is currently Chief Finance Officer and Deputy Chief Officer for NHS Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group. During this time Jonathan was also the West Yorkshire Partnership Lead Director of Finance.  Jonathan is a qualified accountant with nearly 30 years NHS experience.  In his new role, Jonathan will be leading the WY HCP finance directorate. As a member of the board, he will hold collective responsibility with WY HCP directors for financial performance.​​​​​​​
  • Kate Sims, Director of People: Kate is the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) Director of People.  Kate’s previous role was as People Director for West Yorkshire Police where she worked from 2017 to 2022. Before joining the police, Kate worked in several senior people roles in several NHS organisations, including NHS Digital, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

This also includes Ian Holmes, Director for Strategy and Partnerships. Ian began his career in healthcare in 1998 as a government economist, providing advice to the Department of Health on workforce, primary care, and finance. Ian joined West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership as Director in August 2016.  He leads the strategy directorate, which provides support and infrastructure to WY HCP leadership.

The above posts will work alongside the Partnership leadership team, colleagues, and communities, with a clear vision and strong ambitions to support people to have the best start in life, so they can live a long, happy, and healthy one.

The next steps include the appointment of designate place-based committee chairs for Bradford District and Craven; Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield and four independent non-executive integrated care board members covering citizen involvement; finance, audit, and innovation; quality, and workforce.

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