Michelle McManus has been appointed as the Director of Transformation and Place Development for Walsall Together.
Michelle has been carrying out this role on an interim basis since November 2021, helping the partnership to develop and work together to reduce health inequalities, improve outcomes for the people of Walsall and achieve its vision of ‘collaborating for happier communities’.
She has 14 years’ experience across commissioning and provider roles in Staffordshire and the Black Country and has worked in the area since 2016, coming from Black Country Alliance, to Walsall Together in March 2019.
She said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been appointed into this role. I am so passionate about reducing health inequalities and the importance of everyone having the same opportunities to lead a healthy life, no matter where they live or who they are.
“The best way to do this is to work together and I’m really proud to say the partnership has achieved great things so far, thanks to the excellent relationships that have been built with our statutory partners, as well as our voluntary and community groups, and most importantly the people of Walsall.
“There have been inevitable delays to the transformation programme due to the pandemic, and as a partnership we have taken the opportunity to reflect and refresh our priorities, taking into account the even wider gaps in health inequalities post COVID-19, and also the cost of living increases we are currently seeing.
“My focus now will be on the integration of health and social care teams, working with them to co-produce a model that is sustainable going forward, continue the work that has already begun with partners to look at the next phase of integration at a neighbourhood level and looking at ways in which we can better integrate services for the children and young people of Walsall.
“This includes developing a clear strategy for how we will continue to contribute to reducing health inequalities for our population by working with our citizens and supporting people to build resilient communities.”
Simon Evans, Acting Chief Strategy Officer for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “I am delighted Michelle has been appointed as Walsall Together’s Director of Transformation and Place Development as we continue to develop, embed and promote collaboration and integration of services to best serve our borough communities.
“Michelle has shown her commitment, enthusiasm and dedication to working with all our partners from across health and social care, as well as housing, voluntary and community associations and our residents, to collectively look at how we can best address the health inequalities we have locally, and further develop programmes that enhance the resilience of our communities and transform the way our services are accessed and provided.”