Patricia Miller OBE, Chief Executive of NHS Dorset, said:

“In May, South West Chief Executives and Chairs from the seven Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS England regional colleagues met to discuss the changes to ICB geographies and functions, outlined by government earlier in the year.

“Discussions about configurations were carried out in line with a series of agreed design criteria to help ensure that the outcome was as good as possible in terms of sustainability, affordability, and the ability to discharge new responsibilities. It was also acknowledged that local systems would need to operate across larger footprints to benefit from the efficiencies of working at scale.

“​In June 2025, NHS England and ministers formally approved bringing together three ICBs – BSW (Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire), Dorset and Somerset – into a new cluster.

“As the next formal step in establishing our new organisation, I am pleased to announce that Rob Whiteman has been appointed as Chair for the cluster. Rob, who is currently Chair of NHS Dorset, has previously been Chair of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, and his appointment has been confirmed by NHS England further to a robust recruitment process and approval by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

“Rob’s wide-ranging experience working in the NHS and local government includes serving as Chair of North East London Sustainability and Transformation Programme; non-executive director and Chair of audit at both Whittington Health NHS Trust; and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Chief Executive of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

“He is a well-known specialist on public sector finance, leadership and governance and has assisted governments and organisations to improve performance. His expertise makes him very well suited for the role and I am very much looking forward to working with him.”

“Rob’s knowledge, insight and understanding of local health systems both from a provider and commissioner perspective, as well as his years of experience in transformation and change programmes, will be incredibly invaluable.

“We are working together as a cluster on next steps for the role of the existing chairs within each ICB Board and we will bring you more information as soon as we have it. I would like to thank Paul von der Heyde, Chair of NHS Somerset for his ongoing passion and commitment to serving our communities.

“While we are working at pace to establish our new organisation, all three existing ICBs remain focussed on delivering our operational plans for this year and developing programmes that will deliver the improvements required by the recently published 10 Year Health Plan for our local communities.”

Speaking about his appointment, Rob said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as the Chair for our new cluster across NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset. This is a pivotal time for health and care services as well as Integrated Care Boards. I look forward to supporting you as we transform into a high-performing strategic commissioning organisation, where population data and insights drive better outcomes for our people. My focus will be on continuing to work collaboratively with all our partners to make our communities the healthiest places to live.”

The process of appointing a cluster Chief Executive is in progress and further details will be confirmed in due course.