New chair has healthy ambition

NHS South Yorkshire has announced Mr Coppard as the chairman of its Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).

The ICP aims to bring together South Yorkshire’s local authorities, health and care service providers and groups from the voluntary and community sectors to tackle health inequalities and improve and enhance services.

The partnership is one of the two core elements of South Yorkshire’s Integrated Care System, the other being the Integrated Care Board — known as NHS South Yorkshire — which was formed in July with the merger of the four former Clinical Commissioning Groups in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

Mr Coppard said: “My personal ambition is for South Yorkshire to become the healthiest region in the UK.

Within a generation, I’m determined our health outcomes will match anywhere in the country.

“Better health is essential for the thriving economy and sustainable, prosperous communities we want in South Yorkshire.

“On average, we live shorter and less healthy lives than people in some other parts of the country.

“But poor health is not inevitable, and its causes, though complex, are not insurmountable.

“Being chair of the Integrated Care Partnership is an exciting opportunity to improve health outcomes across South Yorkshire and I look forward to playing a key role in the important work being done to tackle health inequality, and to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our communities.”

Chair of NHS South Yorkshire, Pearse Butler, said: “I am delighted that Oliver has agreed to chair the Integrated Care Partnership for South Yorkshire.

“We want to work with all our partners to both improve health and reduce health inequalities and our ICP will play a critical role in developing our plans.”