Integrated Care Partnership (ICP)

One of the insights that drives my values is the fact that ‘poverty annihilates the future’ and I’m so pleased to able to work together with you on how we reshape how we deliver care and how we support our neighbourhoods and our most challenged communities to thrive, and to address the issues that matter to them.

Anu Singh is the Chair of the Black Country Integrated Care Partnership and brings a wealth of experience to the role as a Board-level local government and health leader. She is also Chair of the Black Country Integrated Care Board.

She has been a statutory Director of Adult Social Care and Chaired an integrated NHS Trust and was also Director of Patient and Public Participation and Insight for NHS England, taking the lead for the NHS in ensuring the voice of patients, service users, carers and the public is at its heart.

Mark is the Chief Executive for the Black Country Integrated Care Board, a role he took up in November 2021. Mark has over 30 years’ experience working in the NHS across both Primary Care, Secondary Care, Community and Mental Health Services.  The majority of this has been working in the Black Country.

"I am looking forward to working with partners to build upon the great progress that has already been made in improving the health and wellbeing of our communities. Together we can make a real difference in reducing health inequalities and delivering best possible services to people in the Black Country.”

Sally Roberts is the Chief Nursing Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the Black Country Integrated Care Board. Sally has over 12 years’ experience as an executive board nurse. Sally trained as a Registered Nurse and Specialist Practitioner and has spent the majority of her 37-year NHS career in various provider, commissioner, and educational posts. During this time, Sally has built a comprehensive and strategic network of colleagues and peers across the health and care system and wider. Working to tackle inequalities through co-production and collaboration and being able to evidence the improved outcomes for individuals, communities, and populations has been the focus of Sally’s career, having spent the majority of her working life in community settings as a District Nurse and Community Practice Teacher. Sally understands the strength of working collaboratively and across organisational boundaries to take responsibility collectively for the benefit of the local population.

“I am passionate about ensuring patients receive safe and effective care and recognise that it’s ever more important that care is delivered in the most appropriate, cost-effective and collaborative way”. 

Dr Dave is the Chief Medical Officer at the Black Country Integrated Care Board. She has worked in various clinical and leadership capacities in the Black Country for around two decades. She is interested in promoting the physical and mental health of people in the Black Country including healthcare staff. Dr Dave is a Trustee of the charity Doctors in Distress and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2023.

“To keep people healthy and thriving within communities of belonging, a partnership between the health, care, and voluntary sector is vital and I would like to play my part in enabling partnerships across the system”.

Having worked in the NHS for 21 years now, Taps trained as a General Nurse in Staffordshire and then spent the last 12 years working primarily around integrated working in senior commissioning roles that focused on service improvement and system reform.

As Director of Transformation and Partnership for NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB), Taps takes the executive lead for the ICB on population health management, addressing inequalities and system reform including the development of the Integrated Care Partnership. As well as developing the strategic approaches, processes, and infrastructure to address disparities and inequalities that exist across our population, a significant part of Taps’s role is building relationships and effective partnerships within and beyond the Black Country.

Sharon Nanan-Sen, Chief Executive Officer of Wolverhampton Voluntary & Community Action (WVCA). WVCA plays a leading role in developing charities and social enterprises and bringing resources to the city which are then shared with the VCSE. Before joining WVCA, Sharon worked in Local Government for over 25 years; her roles included Strategic Lead for Services for Young People in Children’s Services and General Manager, Adult Services.

“The VCSE is a key contributor and partner in the ICP bringing a wealth of diverse services and activities from within our communities."

Vicky Hines was appointed as Chief Executive Officer at One Walsall in November 2022. She has worked across the West Midlands region, starting her career at Wolverhampton City Council in the mid-1990s. She has also worked for a national homelessness charity in the West Midlands coordinating a wide range of advice and support services for people from underserved communities. Over her career, Vicky has championed a strengths-based approach to her work, facilitating co-production, fostering collaboration, and progressing strong partnerships.

Mark is Chief Executive of SCVO, the umbrella body for Sandwell’s Voluntary and Community Sector. Mark draws on nearly 30 years’ experience within charities and social enterprises in leading the organisation, including two decades in Sandwell. He has worked within local and national charities at both strategic partnership levels and in the development of community initiatives, including an NGO stint in sub-Saharan Africa supporting resident-led health and education services. Mark is a member of the place-based partnership for health and social care in Sandwell and is committed to working with local voluntary sector organisations to address health inequalities in the borough.

Andy is the Chief Executive Officer of Dudley Council for the Voluntary Service, the local infrastructure body for the borough of Dudley. He has worked in the voluntary and community sector for over 25 years. He has held several leadership and partnership board roles at local, sub-regional, regional, and national levels.

Dr Sharon Arkell is Associate Dean and Director of Strategic Health Partnerships at the University of Wolverhampton. Sharon has led the development of nursing, midwifery, and allied health education at the university. She has evidenced a strategic commitment to widening participation, access, and lifelong learning through the introduction of highly successful foundation year programmes and a range of apprenticeship routes for healthcare professionals, alongside part‐time and flexible learning routes. These measures have provided opportunities for disadvantaged, first in family to university and mature students in the region to access higher education and enter the regional healthcare workforce making it more representative of the population it serves. Sharon is committed to supporting the ICB to develop an effective healthcare workforce for the future.

Emily Fernandez is the Head of Prevention for West Midlands Fire Service.

She is responsible for leading the organisations approach to preventing fires and other emergencies, working collaboratively with Protection, Response and Operational colleagues and externally with partners around reducing health inequalities.

Before joining WMFS, Emily worked in the wider health system for 14 years in roles including Service Manager for Wider Determinants (Public Health Warwickshire), Service Manager for Health Protection (Public Health Manager) and System Transformation Manager (C&W ICB).  She is passionate about all things prevention and reducing inequalities in underserved communities.

Richard Fisher is a Local Policing Commander for the West Midlands Police based in Wolverhampton. Richard has the day-to-day responsibility of policing the Borough of Wolverhampton, alongside this, he is a strategic partner in a number of boards including Contest and Health and Well-Being, as well as being the Chair of the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together Executive and The Safer Wolverhampton Partnership (Community Safety Board). Through these he continually works in partnership to deliver the best service possible to the communities of Wolverhampton, within these health professionals from across a range of roles within the Integrated Care Partnership are a key partner. It is through this work that Richard has become involved as the Black Country lead engaging with the Black Country Mental Health Trust and subsequently the development of the Integrated Care Board and now Partnership. Richard truly believes that it is by working closely together and innovating in the way we deliver our collective services that we will maximised the positive impact for communities, understanding and addressing the causes of harm rather than dealing with the symptoms.