Rob is Chief Executive-Designate for the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, an integrated care system that he has led since 2016. This sees him bringing together West Yorkshire health and care leaders, organisations, and communities to deliver ambitious plans for improved health, care, and finances for 2.4 million people. In 2021, the HSJ awarded the Partnership the award for ICS of the year. Rob was also Chief Executive of South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust between 2016 and 2021.

Rob has worked in healthcare since 1990, taking on national leadership roles in the Department of Health on policy, transformation, and delivery. He has been a director for both the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit in the Cabinet Office and a national public/private partnership. He was Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation between 2014 and 2016, having proven to be a successful Chief Executive in the NHS since 2007, running a number of commissioning organisations and providers of NHS services. Rob is an active member of the NHS Assembly and contributes to several national programmes and networks.

Rob is defined by a values-based approach to leadership. He has a history of effective partnership working and a strong commitment to system leadership. He is a visiting Professor at Leeds Beckett University and was proud to be made a Fellow of the Queen’s Nursing Institute in 2014. In May 2016 Rob became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. In 2020 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and was awarded the HSJ Chief Executive of the Year Award in 2021. He is a proud Honorary Graduand of the University of Bradford which bestowed an honorary doctorate in health for services during the pandemic. You can follow Rob on Twitter @NHS_RobW