Teresa Fenech, a chief nurse by training, has been appointed Chief Executive of NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), a move signalling a push for stronger clinical leadership within a system navigating significant reforms and operational challenges. This appointment is a permanent one, effective 1 January 2026, following a period of executive instability during which Fenech served as acting chief executive since March 2025. Her promotion comes after a year where the ICB dealt with fluctuating national strategic commissioning guidance and the complex integration of health and social care services.
With over 40 years of NHS experience spanning nursing, quality, performance, and improvement, Fenech brings deep expertise to the top role. Prior to her CEO appointment, she was the ICB's director of nursing and quality since its creation in 2022. Her career includes influential national positions at NHS England and NHS Improvement, focusing on system-wide quality and improvement initiatives.
The decision to appoint Fenech occurs against a national backdrop of high turnover in ICB leadership, with many boards facing executive instability as they adjust to new, narrower strategic commissioning remits post-2025 reforms. Clinical leaders taking on CEO roles are highly valued for their direct care experience and frontline understanding, which is crucial as ICBs tackle major pressures like workforce shortages, urgent care backlogs, and the necessity for more effective service integration. However, critics caution that constant leadership change can undermine strategic continuity, particularly for systems focused on financial recovery and service targets. A succession of interim leaders, they argue, makes it difficult to maintain momentum on long-term improvement and workforce stability.
Fenech's clinical and nursing background is also relevant given the national focus on workforce wellbeing and retention. With staffing crises, particularly in nursing, midwifery, and allied health professions, being major obstacles to performance, a CEO with her experience is well-positioned to champion workforce strategy at the executive level. Furthermore, her appointment subtly addresses broader diversity concerns in ICB leadership, which analyses in 2025 highlighted as predominantly white and male. Fenech, as a woman with extensive clinical credentials, represents a small but notable shift in executive career pathways.
The Humber and North Yorkshire ICB's transition to Fenech's permanent leadership unfolds amid nationwide structure change and integration planning, requiring her to balance immediate performance demands with the long-term vision of system transformation and alignment with new commissioning functions. Fenech’s elevation emphasises a broader trend in NHS leadership: the growing recognition that guiding complex systems through persistent service pressures and reform demands requires a combination of clinical insight, operational experience, and strategic vision.
