Working Together for Better Health and Care

As most people are aware, from 1 July 2022, our local Care Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across the country will be replaced by Integrated Care Boards. We have included FAQs to answer some of the questions you may have about the upcoming change to help provide knowledge and a better understanding.

What is integrated care?
Integrated care is about giving people the support they need, joined up across local councils, the NHS, and other partners including social care providers, voluntary and community enterprise sector and charities.

Integrated care involves partnerships of organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services to improve the lives of people in their area, improving population health and reducing inequalities.

What are Integrated Care Systems?
Integrated Care Systems are partnerships of organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services to improve the lives of people in their area. They will be responsible for how health and care is planned, paid for and delivered.

The Health and Care Act 2022 will establish 42 ICSs across England on a statutory basis. Each Integrated Care System will have two statutory elements, an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) and Integrated Care Board (ICB):

an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) – a statutory committee jointly formed between the NHS Integrated Care Board and all upper-tier local authorities that fall within the ICS area. The ICP will bring together a broad alliance of partners concerned with improving the care, health and wellbeing of the population, with membership determined locally. The ICP is responsible for producing an integrated care strategy on how to meet the health and wellbeing needs of the population in the ICS area.
an Integrated Care Board (ICB) – a statutory NHS organisation responsible for developing a plan for meeting the health needs of the population, managing the NHS budget and arranging for the provision of health services in the ICS area. When ICBs are legally established, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) will be abolished.

ICSs have four key purposes:

improving outcomes in population health and healthcare;
tackling inequalities in outcomes, experience and access;
enhancing productivity and value for money;
supporting broader social and economic development.