Press Release 6th September 2021
Director of Strategy, People and Partnerships appointed to Dudley Integrated Health & Care NHS Trust Board
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust (DIHC) has made its first substantive Board appointment since it became a newly formed NHS Trust in 2020. Stephanie Cartwright has become the Director of Strategy, People and Partnerships with immediate effect. The Trust is the first of its kind in the country to integrate primary care across Dudley with community physical and mental health services.
One of the Trusts key priorities going forward is to develop, with partners, a clear strategy for DIHC, that helps embed the services they offer to provide the best in patient care. This Board role will be an integral position to getting that right especially working towards the award of the Integrated Care Provider (ICP) contract in April 2022.
Paul Assinder, Trust Chief Executive said “Steph has held this role in an interim capacity since April 2020 and over the past months has provided clear leadership, insight and innovation to the Trust. Steph is an extremely talented, committed and hardworking individual and we are delighted that she has accepted our first substantive Board position”.
“Steph will be a crucial part of the senior team here at DIHC and, importantly for me, clearly cares deeply about the organisation and the communities we serve. We are very fortunate to have someone of Steph's calibre on the Board of Directors”.
Harry Turner , Chair of the Trust added "This substantive appointment is a key milestone in the development of our Trust and the establishment of permanent Board of Directors. We have a busy few months ahead recruiting for our other Board posts and we look forward to making further announcements in due course. Having worked with Steph for a couple of years now I am delighted she has accepted the permanent position as I know that she will continue to be a fantastic asset to us".
Steph added 'We have some fantastic, skilled and talented teams within the Trust and I am privileged take on this position and continuing to work with them to ensure staff and services thrive at DIHC. The development of this innovative care model in Dudley and the award of the future ICP contract is an enormous milestone on our calendar and I am excited to play such an important role in achieving this for the benefit of the population we serve.
Stephanie has over 25 years of public sector NHS experience in the NHS and has held Board level Director positions for the last 10 years. Most recently Stephanie was the Managing Director for the development of DIHC as an organisation and has held the position of Interim Director of Operations, Strategy and Partnerships since 1st April 2020 when the organisation started.
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For further information please contact Jayne Ilic , Strategic Communications Advisor 07786 267309 or email
Note to Editors:
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust is the first of its kind in the country; integrating primary care across Dudley with community physical and mental health services. It will have responsibility for the health and wellbeing of the whole population of Dudley, working to an outcomes based contract to delivery its revolutionary services.
