A Grenfell Tower Inquiry chief has been appointed as the new boss of the NHS in Greater Manchester - as the health service undergoes sweeping changes.
Mark Fisher, the director general and secretary to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, will become the chief executive of NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care - a new NHS body that will formally come into being on July 1, if the Health and Care Bill passes in the House of Lords.
The board is one of many being set up across the country, changing how the NHS is run dramatically by operating it on a day-to-day basis, as well as all of the planning, buying of health and care services, and the development of long-term plans for the region.
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Mark Fisher joins former Manchester City Council leader, Sir Richard Leese, on the Integrated Care Board.
Sir Richard will become the chair of the new organisation upon the bill's passing in the legislature.
The Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board's priorities include making Greater Manchester's approach to health care more preventative, catching problems before they appear, along with the use of more technology to make health care run smoothly and efficiently, according to its incoming bosses.
Mr Fisher, who lives in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, has worked across government and a variety of public sector settings, having held chief executive and director level roles, including at the Department of Work and Pensions, in the reduction child poverty, in the creation of jobs for young people and boosting skills investment for employers nationally.
He also takes up the role after serving as director general and secretary to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, created to examine the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017.
Welcoming Mr Fisher's appointment, Sir Richard Leese said: “Mark’s vast and varied experience means he will be an outstanding system leader, perfectly placed to drive forward our ambitious collective ambitions for the health and wellbeing of the people here.
“I have complete confidence that Mark will develop the full potential of our partnership working and, as a values-driven leader with extensive experience in leading and joining-up complex services, he will play a vital role in Greater Manchester’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I would like to thank Sarah Price, who will continue as interim chief officer for now, for her incredible professionalism, integrity and leadership over the last two years which have, without doubt, been our most challenging ever.
"She has played a key role in our region’s response to the pandemic and in building the foundations we need for a system which puts the health of our population at its heart.”
“It’s a huge privilege to be appointed as the first chief executive of NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care," added Mr Fisher.
"The region has a long history of collaboration and partnership working, and we now have a real opportunity to make further change: to better address health inequalities, further improve clinical outcomes, and contribute to the wider social and economic development of Greater Manchester.
“It is from the diverse and vibrant communities of Greater Manchester that comes the incredible team of NHS and care staff, unpaid carers and volunteers, who have gone well above and beyond in very difficult circumstances recently. They have already demonstrated the impact we can have when we all work together as one system.
“There are undoubtedly big challenges ahead, but I am very much looking forward to being part of one of the most ambitious integrated care systems in the country, working with and for all the people and communities of Greater Manchester.
“Working on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has been an immense privilege. I move in July as the formal hearings are scheduled to finish, and as Sir Martin Moore-Bick and the Inquiry Panel begin to draw their conclusions about the causes of the tragedy and write their final report for the Prime Minister.”
Greater Manchester was England’s first integrated care system, having been created under devolution arrangements in 2016.
Integrated care systems are intended to bring together all the organisations that have an influence on people's health, such as hospital trusts, GPs, care homes, charities and schools.
Recruitment to key leadership roles within NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care is continuing as key director roles like medical and nursing leads to be appointed over the coming weeks.
The Health and Care Bill, setting out these proposed reforms, is due its third reading in the House of Lords this month.
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