You may have seen our recent story on the changes happening in the NHS, with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) being abolished and replaced by the Integrated Care Board, and more broadly the introduction of Integrated Care Systems – but what does this mean, and who is involved?
Overall, there is a growing increase in collaboration and joined-up, integrated care, through a partnership of organisations:
- ICP (Integrated Care Partnership) – a committee tasked with creating a locally-led strategy.
- ICB (Integrated Care Board) – replacing CCGs, the ICB is responsible for developing plans, managing budgets, and arranging health and care provision.
- Local authorities – responsible for social care and public health functions, as well as other vital services for local people and businesses.
- Place-based partnerships – involve the NHS, local councils, community and voluntary organisations, local residents, people who use services, their carers and representatives, and other community partners to lead the design and delivery of services.
- Provider collaboratives – bringing providers together to achieve the benefits of working at scale across multiple places and one or more ICSs, to improve quality, efficiency and outcomes and address unwarranted variation and inequalities in access and experience across different providers.
The purpose of this change is to bring partner organisations together to:
- improve outcomes in population health and healthcare
- tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access
- enhance productivity and value for money
- and, help the NHS support broader social and economic development
The King’s Fund has created a great animation to help understand these changes, you can also find a diagram that helps explain how the new integrated care systems work under the Health and Care Act.
And, for local information on the new Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board, visit the website here.