The West and North London Integrated Care Board (ICB), poised to become England's largest ICB upon its formal launch on 1 April 2026, has secured an experienced interim chief executive from a neighbouring system to guide it through this critical formative period.
Katie Fisher, currently CEO of South West London ICB, has been seconded for a nine-month interim term. Her immediate focus will be to steer the new organisation, which is merging commissioning functions for a population of approximately 4.5 million across 13 London boroughs, following the recent departure of the former CEO, Frances O’Callaghan.
This new ICB is the product of the merger between North Central London and North West London ICBs, a key part of the NHS's wider structural reforms intended to enhance strategic commissioning and population health planning. Its resulting footprint will be one of the most substantial and complex in the country.
Fisher's mandate includes leading the integrated commissioning function during its launch, unifying governance, finance, digital platforms, and operational systems across the two predecessor boards. As with all ICBs, West and North London will be responsible for planning and commissioning health services in collaboration with local partners, focusing on reducing health inequalities and improving patient outcomes.
Her background, which includes leading system integration and service improvement strategies at South West London ICB, is considered highly relevant. A registered nurse with over 20 years of senior NHS leadership experience spanning commissioning, charitable, and private sectors, Fisher brings significant expertise.
The move to create larger ICB footprints like West and North London aligns with ongoing NHS reforms, which emphasise greater scale and strategic commissioning capacity. This capacity is vital for addressing system-wide priorities such as elective recovery, mental health access, cancer care, prevention, and health inequalities.
However, these structural changes have faced scrutiny, particularly regarding leadership diversity, turnover, and continuity across newly configured ICBs.
The appointment of a seasoned interim like Fisher aims to provide crucial stability. Yet, stakeholders are closely observing how such large ICBs will manage to balance strategic commissioning with operational demands, especially amid persistent financial and performance pressures across the NHS.
The West and North London ICB chair emphasised Fisher's strengths in strategic planning, system integration, and partnership working, stating her leadership will ensure a "smooth transition... enabling us to focus on delivering quality, innovation and equitable care for our diverse population.”
For the health and technology sector, this leadership transition offers a key glimpse into how large-scale commissioning bodies will approach service transformation. This includes the use of digital tools for population health analytics, real-time patient insight, and integrated care platforms.
The merger highlights the growing necessity for leadership agility and system-wide thinking in NHS organisations now spanning millions of patients and multiple boroughs. Technology vendors, analytics firms, and digital health innovators will be attentive to how the new ICB establishes standards for interoperability, data governance, and digital transformation in commissioning, as successful integration of digital platforms could significantly accelerate improvements in service planning and patient experience.
