Dr Salma Reehana has been elected as the first chair of the new NHS Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group.

Dr Reehana, a local GP and Chair of the former Wolverhampton CCG, was elected by her fellow governing body members including GPs and lay members, and the result of the ballot was confirmed in a public meeting of the new CCG’s Governing Body on Tuesday 27th April.

Dr Reehana has served as Interim Chair throughout the process of creating the new organisation and merging the former Dudley, Sandwell & West Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton CCGs. She will now lead the CCG in planning and buying healthcare services for the people of the Black
Country and West Birmingham. Dr Reehana said:

“I am delighted to be elected as substantive Chair and am truly looking forward to working with our dedicated and talented team of CCG officers and local GPs to make a positive difference to the health of local people, now and for the future.

“The chairs of the previous CCGs have done a tremendous amount of work in ensuring BCWB CCG is well placed to first help our local NHS system to recover from the challenges of COVID-19, and then to push forward with reducing health inequalities and improving outcomes across BCWB.”

Dr Reehana was Clinical Chair of Wolverhampton CCG from October 2017 until it joined BCWB CCG on 1 April 2021. She is a GP partner with Health and Beyond Group, which covers 10 practices in Wolverhampton. She has a strong background in training and was awarded a
fellowship by the Royal College of General Practitioners in recognition of her work in GP education. Paul Maubach, Accountable Officer for BCWB CCG, added:

“I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard in very challenging circumstances to get us to where we are now, in particular our outgoing CCG Chairs, who I’m pleased will be bringing their expertise and local knowledge to new positions chairing our Local Commissioning Boards.

“Dr Reehana is an experienced GP who has already demonstrated strong leadership as Interim Chair while we established our new organisation, and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together in future.”

More information about the new BCWB CCG, including all its committees and members, latest news and useful health information, can be found at blackcountryandwestbirmccg.nhs.uk.