Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership appoints Jon Rouse as chief officer

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Jon Rouse has been appointed as Chief Officer of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership – the body overseeing devolution of health and social care in Greater Manchester.

Working closely with senior health, social care and council leaders from across the region, Jon Rouse will oversee a new era for Greater Manchester, as it takes charge of a £6billion health and social care budget from 1 April.

The appointment follows a unique agreement in February 2015 to create a united, single leadership for health and social care across Greater Manchester - to ensure the greatest and fastest possible improvement to the health and wellbeing of the 2.8million residents.

Mr Rouse, a graduate of the University of Manchester, brings a wealth of experience to the role, having worked extensively in both national health and local government positions.

Before joining the Department of Health as Director General for Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnership in 2013, Jon was Chief Executive of the London Borough of Croydon, following similar roles at both the Housing Corporation and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

He has also held a wide range of non-executive positions with organisations including English Partnerships and Homelessness International and was a non-executive director on the Department of Health’s board until 2010.

Mr Rouse has been involved in the Greater Manchester health and social care devolution programme since the summer, making a significant contribution as a member of the Programme Board since the Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2015. He is now looking forward to using his extensive experience in a more central position.

He said: “I am very excited to have been given this opportunity to lead Greater Manchester’s health and care programme. It is right and fitting that a vibrant and ambitious region like Greater Manchester should be able to make its own choices about how best to promote the health of its citizens and how to shape the best possible health and care services. I consider it both a huge responsibility and privilege to be asked to lead the whole partnership on this exciting journey.”

Mr Rouse will oversee a new era for health and social care services, with local leaders having the freedom to shape decisions on a combined £6 billion budget for the first time. It means policies can be developed to radically transform the health of Greater Manchester’s 2.8 million people and build a clinically and financially sustainable model of health and social care.

He will look to embed health and social care at the heart of wider reform in Greater Manchester and establish a new relationship between public services, citizens, communities and businesses to bring a change in approach to health and wellbeing, both at home and in the workplace.