ICSs have been introduced with the intention of uniting the operations of hospitals, community-based services, and health and social care bodies across their respective places.
The concept of an Integrated Care System (ICS) is not a new one. ICSs have been introduced with the intention of uniting the operations of hospitals, community-based services, and health and social care bodies across their respective places. The goal is to move towards a relationship-driven and collaborative system and away from independent, competing silos of service. The effectiveness of such systems has been hindered by a focus on structures and processes of risk aversion, rather than on creating cohesive cultures and behaviours within the systems.
The latest step in the evolutionary chart is the White Paper ‘Health and social care integration: joining up care for people, places and populations’. This White Paper has sought to reshape the environment within which ICSs reside, and seeks to create further autonomy for each place to implement systems which fit their bespoke needs. Some of the criticism of this White Paper, however, is that it does very little to provide real clarity on how ICSs can achieve their goals.
We will look in more detail at the role of the Single Accountable Body and other concepts from the Integration White Paper next month. For now, we wanted to share some thoughts on what all local authorities should be doing to prepare for 1 July 2022 when ICSs go live and county and unitary councils must ensure that their governance procedures allow for their involvement at the right level.
Having worked on several ICS arrangements from the local government side, we would suggest the following be considered:
As a final note, the overriding takeaway from this article should be that it is important to remember that ICSs are evolutionary in nature and we should not view 1 July 2022 as the deadline for their final form. They must evolve to adapt to the needs of their communities and demands of the wider government to ensure that they can appropriately carry out their goals without becoming a victim of change.
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