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Our Board is accountable for the decision making of the organisation.

Our Board consists of a Chair, a Chief Executive Officer, Non-Executive Directors (clinical and non-clinical), Partner members, Executive Directors, and the Local Authority Director of Public Health.

The Board is supported by six Committees, who work together to commission the best possible healthcare services for the Somerset population:

The Board’s role is to ensure we function effectively, efficiently and economically, and in accordance with the Integrated Care Board’s principles of good governance and its Constitution.


Key responsibilities of the Board are:

  • Setting our vision and strategy
  • Approving our commissioning plans and financial policies
  • Monitoring local providers’ performance and quality
  • Approving annual reports
  • Ensuring that we debate issues in an open and transparent way
  • Ensuring we have effective patient and public participation in commissioning healthcare.

ICB Board members

ICB Board members include:

  • Chair: Paul von der Heyde
  • Chief Executive: Jonathan Higman
  • Non Executive Director: Suresh Ariatnam
  • Non Executive Director: Christopher Foster
  • Non Executive Director: Dr Caroline Gamlin
  • Non Executive Director: Grahame Paine
  • Chief Finance Officer: Alison Henly
  • Chief Nursing Officer: Shelagh Meldrum
  • Director of Public Health: Trudi Grant
  • Foundation Trust Partner Member: Peter Lewis
  • Local Authority Partner Member: Mel Lock
  • Primary Care Partner Member: Dr Berge Balian

Further board members will be confirmed soon.


ICB Board meetings

All our Board meetings are open to the public to attend. Notification of the meetings is sent out to our mailing list a week before the meetings. If you would like to raise a public question, please download the Public Questions Form and email to kathy.palfrey@nhs.net

Meeting dates, locations and related documents are available in the meetings and papers section. 


Governance Handbook

Governance Handbook

Find out more about our Governance.


Annual Reports

The Annual Report is published each year and will be available on our publications pages.


NHS Somerset CCG Annual General Meeting 2021

Annual General Meeting – Tuesday, 14 September 2021 at 7.00 pm

Each year we hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to share our work with patients and the public.  We focus on what we have achieved over the previous year and our plans for the year ahead. This year, we again held the AGM as a virtual event and members of the public were invited to view the proceedings. You can watch our recording of the meeting by clicking on the link below.

AGM 2021 Meeting Recording

Presentation Slides

AGM 2021 Questions and Responses

NHS Somerset Annual General Meeting 2020

Each year we hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to share our work with patients and the public.  We focus on what we have achieved over the previous year and our plans for the year ahead.

Due to Covid-19, we held the AGM on 15 September 2020 as a virtual event, using Microsoft Teams LiveEvents, and members of the public were invited to view the proceedings. You can watch our recording of the meeting by clicking on the link below.

AGM 2020 Meeting Recording