CEO appointed to lead partnership of health and care organisations

Sue Harriman, CEO of Solent NHS Community and Mental Health Trust in Hampshire, has been appointed designate Chief Executive of the NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW) Integrated Care Board which is due to be established in April 2022.

The BSW Integrated Care Board will be the new statutory NHS organisation responsible for planning and delivering health and care services and is being set up as part of the government’s new health and care reforms.

The ICB will work collaboratively with partner organisations including the VCSE sector and people and communities in each Integrated Care System (ICS).

Locally, the ICS is known as the BSW Partnership.

The functions of BSW Integrated Care Board will transition into the ICB at the end of March 2022, and will hold the budget for commissioning high quality patient care and have the authority to establish performance arrangements to ensure this is delivered.

Sue has been appointed following a competitive and robust recruitment process that was overseen by NHS England and Improvement.

Commenting on her appointment, Sue said: “I’m really looking forward to joining NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board as designate Chief Executive.

“I firmly believe that by better joining up health and care services, we can improve services, patient outcomes and the health and wellbeing of local people, whilst also making improvements for those of us working in health care.   

“An important part of deciding how services should be arranged is through the involvement of the people who use them; meeting with local people to understand how health and care needs can be met locally is something that is really important to me.”  

Sue has been Chief Executive of Solent NHS Trust since 2014 and in February this year completed a six-month secondment as Chief Operating Officer for the national Covid-19 vaccination deployment programme. 

With more than 16 years of clinical experience gained from working as a nurse in the Royal Navy, Sue joined the NHS in 2002 as a nurse consultant in infection prevention.

In more recent years, Sue has held various executive roles within NHS, including as a Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director before becoming Chief Executive at Solent NHS Trust.

Under her leadership, Solent NHS Trust achieved an improved Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating, from requires improvement’ to good overall with outstanding in the caring domain.

Sue Harriman will join the BSW Integrated Care Board in February 2022. 

Stephanie Elsy, Chair-designate of the BSW Partnership said: “Sue is an outstanding CEO and has a wealth of experience in health and care leadership, transformation and community engagement. 

“I am delighted she will be joining us to lead our partnership in achieving our shared vision of improving health outcomes and working together to empower people to lead their best life.”

Leadership of the local health and care system continues to be provided by Tracey Cox until further notice.

Tracey Cox was the accountable officer for Bath and North East Somerset ICB from 2014 and also led Wiltshire ICB for over a year before being appointed as Chief Executive of BSW ICB and Senior Responsible Officer for the BSW Partnership.

Commenting on Tracey Cox, Stephanie Elsy said: “Tracey’s calm and supportive leadership of our health and care system has been vital to manage the challenge and consequences of the pandemic and ensure the best possible care for our patients and communities.

“The groundwork that Tracey Cox has started, with the active support of ICB colleagues and our system partners, has put BSW in a strong position to establish our ICB from April, help improve health outcomes for our local population and address health inequalities.”

For more information about BSW Partnership visit www.bswpartnership.nhs.uk.