BSol Diverse Board Appointments
BRIG are delighted to report that Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB) are setting the pace on NHS Board diversity with appointment of Partick Vernon as Chair and new Non-Executive Directors Afzal Hussain and Dr. Onyi Okonkwo.
Board diversity is one of the 17 pledges BSol ICB signed up to at their 2022 Race and Health Summit and last December at the 2023 summit confirmed they will be rolling out BRIG’s ‘Three Year Board Challenge’ to all NHS Trusts in the BSol Integrated Care System.
Patrick has been Interim Chair of the Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB) since January 2023. Prior to that, Patrick was the first Non-Executive Director to be appointed at the BSol ICB and was appointed to specifically lead inequalities. He was the first NED lead for inequalities to be appointed in England. He received an OBE in 2012 for his work on tackling health inequalities and in 2019 he was awarded a lifetime achievement award for campaigning and advocacy work by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation.
Patrick is a former Non-Executive Director for Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust and Healthwatch England. In 2020 Patrick established the Majonzi Fund, which is providing grants to families and community organisations to hold commemoration events for individuals from Black and racialised communities who have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic. Alongside his work for the ICB, Patrick also chairs the Walsall Together Partnership Board working to create happier partnership working in the locality.
In August 2021 Patrick was appointed by Wolverhampton University as Honorary Professor of Cultural Heritage and Community Leadership for the Department of Community Development. In 2020 he was selected by British Vogue as one of Britain’s top 20 campaigners and was included in the 2020 power list of 100 influential Black People in Britain. Patrick spearheaded a successful campaign leading to the creation of the annual Windrush Day, a national day acknowledging the migrant contribution to UK society including contributions to the NHS.
Dr Onyinye Okonkwo, GP Senior Partner at the Wand Medical Centre in Highgate Birmingham has been appointed as Associate Non-Executive Director focused on driving clinical quality. Meanwhile, Afzal Hussain, Chief Officer of Witton Lodge Community Association, has been appointed as Associate Non-Executive Director leading on the ICB’s work on community engagement.
Dr Okonkwo is an accomplished health and care leader with a rich history of service in Birmingham and Solihull dating back to 2001. As well as working as GP Senior Partner at the Wand Medical Centre, she serves as GP member of the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated care Partnership, Chair of the system wide Birmingham Lewisham African Caribbean Health Inequalities Review Taskforce and Executive Member Birmingham Local Medical Committee. Onyinye has trained in a number of locations including the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, the University of Warwick and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health. Dr Okonkwo is also heavily involved in the training and assessment of GPs through the Royal College of General Practitioners as well as Undergraduate medical students for University of Birmingham and Aston University Birmingham.
Afzal Hussain is Chief Officer of Witton Lodge Community Association, a dynamic social enterprise and community anchor supporting diverse communities across north Birmingham. With over 25 years’ experience in urban and community regeneration across the West Midlands, he has worked with multi-stakeholder partnerships to transform neighbourhoods and communities – supporting thousands of residents and vulnerable groups to access housing, health, employment, skills, and enterprise support services. During the pandemic, he convened the Erdington (Covid-19) Taskforce, and the North Birmingham Economic Recovery Board which continues to create and connect opportunities to communities in some of the city’s most challenging neighbourhoods. Afzal is an active member of several Boards in Birmingham and the West Midlands, providing insight and expertise in community-led approaches that tackle deep-seated challenges and deliver change that sticks. He remains passionate about nurturing talent and provides coaching to leaders in the voluntary and community sectors. Afzal also serves as Deputy Lieutenant in the West Midlands Lieutenancy.
Paul Taylor is a retired NHS finance director and has been a Non-Executive at the ICB since March 2022. In his last role, Paul worked for 20 years as a management consultant to the NHS after 11 years working substantively in the NHS at director level. He is a very experienced public sector finance professional who has held senior positions in a number of different organisations, both in primary and secondary care and the intermediate and national tiers. He offers a breadth of skills in financial, planning, organisational and general management. Paul is a former Chair of the West Midlands branch of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), the professional body for finance staff in healthcare. He is also a member of the national Finance Management and Research Sub-committee and winner of the national Outstanding Contribution to HFMA award in 2006.
Reacting to the announcement, Patrick Vernon OBE, Chair of the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board said:
“It’s fantastic to be able to welcome Onyi and Afzal to the Board. They are both hugely respected in their fields and are well known in the community for their expertise and dedication. Onyi will add another valuable clinical voice to our board and Afzal will provide added leadership to our work to better engage with the people we serve.
And on their appointments:
Onyi said:
“I’m delighted to be joining colleagues on the board and to be strengthening the clinical and primary care voice in our system. As a GP in one of the most diverse and deprived parts of the city, I know first-hand the challenges that patients and clinicians are seeing and hope to use this as a valuable opportunity to work together to deliver improvements.”
Afzal said:
“From my own work in Birmingham and the wider region, I know how important it is that we properly engage with our local communities. Critically, we must listen to what people are telling us and demonstrate that we are acting upon their views when it comes to making decisions about health and care services. This will enable us to both address challenges but also harness the undoubted skills, knowledge and expertise that exists in our many communities to transform engagement, access and services.. I’m excited to work with the team and to further developing our approach to tackling health inequalities and supporting economic development.”
BRIG, as a critical friend to BSol ICB, welcome Patrick, Afzal and Onyi’s appointments and looks forward to collectively driving an anti-racist approach health inequalities in Birmingham and Solihull.