A message from our chief executive Aaron Cummins

I am delighted that you are considering applying to become our Chief Nursing Officer at NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).

We currently serve the 1.8 million people who live across Lancashire and South Cumbria and oversee around £5.5 billion of NHS expenditure. Working with partners across the NHS, local government, primary care, the voluntary sector and our communities, our role is to improve population health, tackle inequalities, commission high-quality services and ensure public resources are used effectively to deliver the greatest possible benefit for local people. Our communities are diverse, our geography is complex and the opportunities to improve health outcomes are significant. This makes strategic leadership more important than ever.

This is an exciting and important time to join us. We have recently approved a new operating model that strengthens the ICB’s role as a strategic commissioner and positions us to lead the next phase of transformation across Lancashire and South Cumbria. The focus of our work is increasingly on improving population health, reducing inequalities and ensuring services are designed around the needs of people and communities rather than organisational boundaries. 

Our operating model has been designed through collaboration and involvement with our staff and partners. We recognise there are changes in Lancashire and South Cumbria which provide an opportunity for greater collaboration. Our councils in Lancashire are part of Local Government Reorganisation and we expect in the future our boundaries may change to include the whole of the Cumbria strategic authority footprint. These changes provide the opportunity to strengthen how we work with our partners, to shift to more neighbourhood models of care and have a positive impact on the outcomes of communities and reduce health inequalities. Our new operating model strengthens place-based commissioning through four population commissioning teams, enabling us to work more closely with local authorities, providers, primary care, voluntary organisations and communities to improve neighbourhood health and reduce variation in outcomes.

We are currently building on our Five-Year Strategic Commissioning Plan, which sets out a clear ambition to create a high-quality, community-centred health and care system, to develop a new strategy for the ICB which demonstrates how we will use our role as strategic commissioners to improve outcomes for the people we serve. It is likely to reflect our determination to shift the centre of gravity of the health and care system towards prevention, early intervention, neighbourhood-based care and integrated support that helps people live healthier lives for longer.

We are also driving forward an ambitious Clinical Strategy that will shape commissioning decisions and clinical transformation across the system. It places a strong emphasis on neighbourhood integration, reducing unwarranted variation, improving quality and outcomes, supporting people to manage their own health and embracing innovation and digital technology to improve care. We believe the future of health and care lies in strong partnerships between services, communities and individuals, supported by multidisciplinary teams working closer to where people live. 

For our new Chief Nurse, this presents an exceptional opportunity to shape the future of quality, safety and clinical leadership across one of the largest integrated care systems in the country. You will help ensure that the voice of patients, carers, communities and frontline staff remains central to decision-making, while influencing how services evolve to meet changing needs and expectations.

We are ambitious about what comes next. Lancashire and South Cumbria has an opportunity to become a national leader in neighbourhood health, prevention and integrated care. We want to accelerate the shifts described in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, moving from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention and from analogue to digital. We are committed to creating a system that is more proactive, personalised and sustainable, while ensuring care remains safe, effective and compassionate. 

Like many health and care systems, we continue to face significant financial, operational and workforce challenges. Demand for services remains high, health inequalities persist and resources are constrained. However, we have made important progress in strengthening governance, leadership and financial recovery, creating a stronger platform for future improvement. This has seen our system exit a programme of national system improvement oversight. Our Chief Nurse will play a vital role in helping us maintain the right balance between transformation and assurance, ensuring quality, safety and patient experience remain at the heart of every decision we make. 

You will join a highly experienced clinical leadership team alongside our Co-Medical Directors, Andy Curran and Dr Andy Knox. Together, you will provide visible and influential clinical leadership across Lancashire and South Cumbria, helping to shape strategic commissioning decisions, lead quality improvement, champion neighbourhood health and support the delivery of system-wide transformation. 

We are looking for an experienced and credible nursing leader who can operate confidently at both strategic and system level. You will bring a strong track record of improving quality, safety and outcomes and, importantly, of sustaining improvement over time. We are interested in leaders who understand the breadth and complexity of health and care and who can work effectively across organisational boundaries to deliver change.

Just as important will be how you lead. We are looking for someone with integrity, compassion and determination; someone who can build trusted relationships, convene partners around a common purpose and inspire others to deliver ambitious change. You will be comfortable challenging constructively, holding organisations to account where necessary and creating an environment that supports collaboration, openness, learning and continuous improvement.

Above all, you will be a visible advocate for patients, communities and staff. You will ensure that quality, safety, equity and experience remain central to our work as we transform services and pursue better outcomes for the people of Lancashire and South Cumbria.

This is a critical and influential role, but it is also a unique opportunity to make a lasting difference. If you are excited by the prospect of shaping the future of health and care, tackling inequalities and working alongside ambitious partners to improve the lives of our residents, I hope you will consider joining us.

I strongly encourage you to speak directly and in confidence with our advisers at Alumni Global to learn more about the role, our ambitions and the opportunities ahead.

I look forward to receiving your application.

Aaron Cummins
Chief executive