Marie Gabriel CBE, NEL Independent Integrated Care System (ICS) Chair, has been officially confirmed as the Chair designate for the NHS NEL Integrated Care Board (ICB), the statutory ICS body which will be established as a result of the Health and Care Bill.
The Bill contains a series of measures which would formally establish ICSs and give their governing bodies – including an NHS ICB for each area – a broader range of responsibilities, empowering them to better join up health and care, improve population health and reduce health inequalities. A key element of this preparation is confirming senior roles for each NHS ICB, starting with the chair designates. A robust selection process, led by NHSE, took place in late 2019 to appoint Marie as our Independent ICS Chair. NHSE have assured the original recruitment process and sought approval from the Secretary of State and as such Marie is now officially confirmed as the ICB Chair designate.
Henry Black, Acting Accountable Officer, said “I am absolutely delighted that Marie is staying on as our chair, as she has already been a fantastic appointment for north east London. Over the last year Marie has been working tirelessly to bring all our partners with us on our ICS journey and has been working closely with patient groups including Healthwatch and the voluntary sector to ensure people are at the heart of our NEL ICS.
Marie has a wealth of experience and strong roots in north east London as a current Newham resident, born in Tower Hamlets and educating her children during their early years in Redbridge as well as being a former chair in ELFT and across NEL PCTs. At a national level Marie has board roles with the NHS Confederation and is Chair of the NHS Race and Health Observatory. All of this valuable experience means Marie is the best person to take forward our ambitions and we are really lucky to have such a fantastic Chair for NEL.”
You can find out more about the process to appoint a chair on the NHS England website.