On 11th February 2021 the Government published a White Paper, ‘Integration and Innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all’ which sets out legislative proposals for a health and care bill that is currently making its way through Parliament.
The proposals include health and care services working more closely together in a joined-up way of working through new organisations called Integrated Care Systems (ICS). These will be statutory bodies in all parts of England. There will be one for Greater Manchester and it is due to start on Friday,1 July, 2022.
Under the proposals, a statutory ICS would be led by two related parts– an ‘ICS NHS body’ and an ‘ICS health and care partnership’ – together, these will be referred to as the ICS. Further down the page you will be able to access documents that explain the new ways of working in more detail.
The benefits for Stockport will include:
- Closer working for health and care services
- Improving the health of the local population with more help to prevent people becoming ill in the first please
- Reducing inequality to accessing local services so it doesn’t matter how much you earn and where you live as to what service you can use
- Helping services to work more efficiently by taking out duplication
- Retaining, developing and recruiting staff to keep our services running
- Making the best use of our assets such as buildings and equipment so our services last into the future
ICSs are a major shift in the way the health and care system is organised.
- Previously, the different organisations worked on their own and commissioners (who buy local services) and providers (who provide local service) worked separately in a competitive environment.
- ICSs depend instead on collaboration, of organisations working together, with a focus on local areas and local populations as the driving forces for improving services and health.
- Stockport is one of ten localities within the Greater Manchester ICS. Stockport will have a Locality Board which will be responsible to the ICB, through a delegated accountability arrangement, for co-ordinating the delivery of the accountability agreement and the local contribution to health, social and economic development.
On this page you will find the following attachments:
- What is an ICS?
- FAQ’s
- Glossary of Terms
- Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership
If you have any questions then please contact: stockportccg.communications@nhs.net