Independent Chair recruitment

Welcome

Dear Candidate

Thank you for your interest in the role of Chair at NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) - a key leadership position within one of England’s largest and most diverse health systems.

On behalf of NHS England North West and NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, we are pleased to introduce our system and the vital contribution you could make to its future.

Serving over 2.7 million people across nine local authority areas, Cheshire and Merseyside is a complex and ambitious ICB. The ICBs mission is to improve population health, reduce inequalities, and deliver integrated, person-centred care. Strong partnerships and a shared commitment to better outcomes underpin our work.

Despite the pressures facing the NHS, the system has delivered a number of notable achievements:

  • first in England to re-achieve the six-week cancer diagnostic standard post-pandemic.
  • Whiston Hospital ranked top nationally for stroke care.
  • delivered over 500,000 additional primary care appointments last year.
  • launched a regional oral health strategy to reduce paediatric dental waiting lists.
  • developed advanced population health intelligence tools for targeted interventions.

The system does however face significant operational and strategic challenges:

  • urgent and emergency care pressures remains our most significant operational challenge
  • workforce shortages and industrial action impact service delivery.
  • persistent health inequalities in some of England’s most deprived communities.
  • financial pressures require careful stewardship and innovation in order to deliver the ICBs and systems financial plans while working towards a balanced position in future years.

The NHS 10-Year Plan sets out a bold vision for prevention, care closer to home, and better use of technology. Our Joint Forward Plan aligns with the NHS 10-Year Plan, focusing on:

  • tackling inequalities via the All Together Fairer programme.
  • improving population health and care outcomes.
  • enhancing productivity and value.
  • supporting social and economic development.
  • advancing Net Zero goals.

As Chair, you will lead the Board through financial recovery, strengthening ICB and system governance, and ensuring delivery of strategic priorities. You will play a pivotal role in:

  • shaping the medium-term financial strategy.
  • embedding system-wide efficiency programmes.
  • hold partners accountable for performance.
  • support the oversight of and delivery of the operational model and organisational changes required to meet the national ICB model blueprint.
  • ensure alignment with national expectations and local priorities.

This is a unique opportunity to lead a system with both significant challenges and enormous potential. We are seeking a values-driven, inclusive, and strategic leader who can inspire collaboration, provide robust oversight, and champion innovation. If you share the commitment to improving lives and believe in the power of integrated care, then we warmly invite you to consider submitting an application.

Warm regards

Louise Shepherd
Regional Director 
NHS England North West		 Cathy Elliot
Chief Executive 
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside

The opportunity

Job title: Independent Chair

Salary: Very Senior Manager - £70-80k

Base: No 1 Lakeside, Warrington, 920 Centre Park, Warrington, WA1 1QY (with travel across Cheshire and Merseyside)

Contract: Fixed term

Duration: 3 years

Working pattern: 2-3 days per week

Apply now

Priorities

The Chair will play a crucial role in supporting and holding the ICB Board to account for ensuring the delivery of the functions, duties and objectives of the ICB and for the stewardship of public money. This will include providing strong leadership and accountability for a shorter-term, fundamental transformation plan to oversee the transition to the Model ICB, building skills and capabilities to deliver against the functions of the ICB. The Chair champions actions to help meet the core purposes of the ICB. 

ICBs will be responsible for the overwhelming majority of the healthcare budget for their local populations and will be expected to decide how best to spend monies to deliver against their objectives and the three shifts. ICBs will need to:

  • understand population health needs, building deep analytical insights into different population groups
  • work with a wide range of local stakeholders, communities and individuals to agree local priorities
  • have a deep understanding of how well current services are meeting the needs of their populations and where there is room for improvement
  • develop strategies for different population groups, and different service areas, to ensure optimal healthcare value – maximising outcomes and minimising costs
  • ensure a high quality, financially sustainable provider market with a short-term focus on building neighbourhood health providers
  • contract for services to deliver against ICB objectives and the three strategic shifts
  • hold providers to account for delivery against contracts
  • be financially balanced. 

Accountabilities

The ICB Chair is appointed by NHS England (with the approval of the Secretary of State) and will be held to account by the NHS England Regional Director. 

The Chair is accountable for ensuring proper governance is in place and effective for delivering the core statutory functions of the organisation, ensuring the ICB is compliant, accountable and safe. The Chair should assure and model a culture of good governance and inclusion at Board level. This includes ensuring the ICB is properly constituted and able to fulfil its strategic commissioning responsibilities to deliver against the four objectives of ICBs and the 10-year plan.

The Chair will lead the Board in setting and assuring strategy to deliver the shorter-term fundamental transformation strategy to oversee the transition to the Model ICB, effective oversight of delivery of 2025/26 plans, reduction in ICB operational running costs, building the foundation for neighbourhood health and managing the local changes involved with ICB redesign. In some areas, the ICB redesign will involve identifying at-scale opportunities, through significantly greater collaboration and clustering. The Chair should oversee and assure the transformation, ensuring accountability.

The Chair will establish and lead the unitary board of the ICB, which has joint collective and corporate accountability for the performance of the organisation, ensuring its functions are effectively discharged and that NHS resources are deployed appropriately to other organisations. 

The Chair will hold the Board and organisation to account for the delivery of strategy and ensuring financial balance. They will lead the Board to achieve its purpose to govern effectively and, in so doing, build patient, public and stakeholder confidence that their health and healthcare is in safe hands.

To carry out their role effectively, the Chair must cultivate a strong, collaborative relationship with the Chief Executive. Many responsibilities in this role description will be discharged in partnership with the Chief Executive. It is important the Chair and the Chief Executive are clear about their individual and shared roles, and their respective responsibilities towards the unitary board.

Roles and responsibilities

  • Leads the Board in setting a vision, strategy and clear objectives for the ICB in delivering on the four core purposes, as detailed above, in support of the 10-year health plan including the three strategic shifts (analogue to digital, hospital to community and treatment to prevention)
  • Holds the Board to account for delivery of the strategy 
  • Responsible for leading the Board and ensuring it has the necessary constitutional and governance arrangements (e.g. committee and collaborative structures) in place to ensure legal compliance, transparency and public accountability.
  • Ensures clinical and information governance mechanisms and effective financial and risk management systems are adopted and aligned with best practice commissioning and quality assurance processes.
  • Supports the Board and organisation in working towards commissioning excellence, learning from successful international models.
  • Ensures effective system leadership, working in partnership, ensuring engagement and codesign with local government and fostering strong relationship with the places and across neighbourhoods within the ICB footprint to tackle population health challenges and enhance services across health and social care.
  • Responsible for appointing the ICB Chief Executive (with approval from NHS England) and Non-Executive Members (NEMs), and ensuring they are supported and developed to maximise their contribution. Responsible for approving the appointment of all ordinary members of the ICB Board, including the ICB Partner Members. Responsible for approving or appointing members of committees or subcommittees of the ICB which exercise commissioning functions. 
  • Together with the Chief Executive, provides visible leadership in developing a healthy and inclusive culture for the organisation which promotes diversity, encourages and enables partnership working and which is reflected and modelled in their own, the Board’s and the ICB’s behaviour and decision-making.
  • Together with the Chief Executive owns the culture of the ICB, and oversees conduct and implementation of the Fit and Proper Persons framework on behalf of the organisation
  • Promotes the values of the NHS Constitution and role models the behaviours embodied in Our People Promise and Our Leadership Way to ensure a collaborative, inclusive and productive approach across the system.

Essential person specification 

Personal values
  • Personal commitment to the Nolan principles of public life, values of the NHS, the NHS People Plan and the Fit and Proper Persons framework.
  • Lives by the values of openness and integrity and has created cultures where this thrives.
  • A collaborative leader, able to build productive working relationships across organisational, geographic and sector boundaries.
  • Personal resilience in the face of change and fast-moving demands.
Skills
  • Proven ability to think strategically and demonstrate excellent problem-solving skills and a breadth of vision beyond organisational, geographic and sector boundaries.
  • The capacity to deal effectively with multiple stakeholders, with exceptional communication skills which will engender community confidence, strong collaborations and partnerships.
  • Strong critical thinking and strategic problem-solving: the ability to anticipate and frame issues to drive effective strategy, problem resolution and action.
  • Ability to steer an organisation through significant legislative and policy reform, at pace.
Knowledge
  • Extensive knowledge of the health, care and local government landscape and an understanding of the social determinants of health.
  • Deep understanding of the principles of healthcare value, of strategic commissioning, of contract management.
  • Excellent business acumen with knowledge of effective governance, including an understanding of mechanisms to ensure clinical and financial risk management and collaboration, while ensuring appropriate accountability.
Experience
  • Previous experience as Chair of an organisation of similar size and complexity whether in a private, public or voluntary sector.
  • Significant experience as an executive director of a large, complex, consumer facing organisation.
  • Evidence of exercising independent judgement.

Competencies

Being an NHS board member means holding an extremely demanding yet rewarding leadership responsibility. NHS board members have both an individual and collective role in shaping the vision, strategy and culture of a system or organisation, and supporting high-quality, personalised and equitable care for all now and into the future.

The NHS Leadership Competency Framework is for Chairs, Chief Executives and all board members in NHS systems and providers, as well as serving as a guide for aspiring leaders of the future.

The six leadership domains:

  • Driving high quality and sustainable outcomes 
  • Setting strategy and delivering long term transformation 
  • Promoting equality and inclusion, and reducing health and workforce inequalities
  • Providing robust governance and assurance
  • Creating compassionate, just and positive cultures
  • Building a trusted relationship with partners and communities.

Recruitment timetable

Application closing date 12pm on 22 September 2025
Shortlist confirmation by Friday 03 October 2025
Final stakeholder and selection panel interviews Monday 13 October 2025 - Warrington, Cheshire
Submission of preferred candidate to NHS England Wednesday 15 October 2025
Confirmation of appointment Subject to NHS England – anticipated before end of October 2025

How to apply

We have commissioned the support of an independent executive recruitment firm called Seymour John, and in the first instance you are invited to contact them for an informal conversation. 

Please contact Jonathan Phillips at Seymour John to discuss your interest:

If you wish to be considered for this role please provide:

  • a CV that includes your address and preferred contact details, highlighting and explaining any gaps in your employment history
  • a supporting statement that highlights yours skills and experiences and allows insights on your values and motivations for applying for the role. You should outline your personal responsibility and achievement within previous roles that demonstrates you have the knowledge, skills and competencies to deliver this role, as outlined in the person specification (max 2,000 words)
  • the names, positions, organisations and contact details for three referees. Your referees should be individuals in a line management capacity (or senior stakeholders), and cover your most recent roles and employer, any regulated health or social care activity or where roles involved children or vulnerable adults. Your references will be taken prior to interview and may be shared with the selection panel
  • a completed monitoring information form
  • a completed self-declaration form confirming that you do not meet any of the criteria that would disqualify you from appointment (Fit and Proper Persons Self-Attestation)
  • a completed declarations of interest form
  • confirmation that you are able to attend the identified interview date of 13 October 2025.

Please send the required information to jp@seymourjohn.com with the reference CMICBChair2025.

Supporting documentation