Melbourne, currently chief executive of NHS Birmingham and Solihull, will move quickly to appoint a new shared executive leadership team working across both Birmingham and Solihull and the Black Country.

Before becoming chief executive of NHS Birmingham and Solihull in November 2021, he spent over a decade at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust as deputy chief executive and chief finance officer, as well as interim chief executive on three separate occasions.

A qualified accountant by background, Melbourne has previously worked as a senior manager at KPMG in health and education sectors.

He is the chair of the NHS Midlands Procurement Board and a member of the national Procurement Customer Board.

Chair of NHS Birmingham, Black Country and Solihull, Danielle Oum, said: ‘David is an outstanding appointment for the cluster and has a track record of bringing partners together from across health and social care to deliver meaningful transformation. But we will only succeed if we continue to nurture partnerships and build trust and confidence in our communities in our NHS. I know David will lead our teams to do exactly that.'

Melbourne said: ‘It has been a real privilege to lead NHS Birmingham and Solihull since its inception and I'm delighted to be able to lead both integrated care boards forward as we move into our new cluster. This is a fundamental reset of what integrated care boards do and that means approaching things differently and, in a leaner, more focused way.

‘We will shift to become a strategic commissioner and already have the building blocks in place to deliver on the Government's ambitions for a neighbourhood health service. Our approach will be rooted in openness, inclusivity and compassion. This is not change for its own sake. It is change with purpose: to deliver better outcomes for our patients and communities, to ensure public resources are used wisely, and to build a system that listens to those it serves.'