With each passing week our ICS develops….

There is a sequential process to ‘building’ an ICS, and much of that is to do with people. In my case, over the last couple of weeks, recruiting to our Integrated Care Board. This process will draw to a close shortly, and our ICS board should be in place for late March. This now enables us to build our equally important Integrated Care Partnership. While these two important boards have different terms of reference, they share the same strategic purposes: to improve health outcomes for those we serve, to tackle inequalities in health and social care, to ensure that our collective work is effective and represents value for money and to support broader social and economic development across our geography, which we know has an impact on the health and wellbeing of our population.

This week, I had an opportunity to meet (virtually) with many of those people employed by the CCGS in our geography, who will transfer into our ICS at the beginning of July. Establishing a new health and social care partnership, our ICS, gives us a unique opportunity to create an organisational culture which is clearly focussed on achieving those purposes noted above. It also enables us to consider the values and behaviours which will be so important to us all as collectively week to achieve our purposes, including the ways in which we work together internally and the ways in which we will work with colleagues and partners too. In addition, we had an important conversation about how our new ICS will engage with the communities we seek to serve. This very important issue of engagement with communities, places and partners is set to be an important cornerstone of our evolving ICS.

Sue Symington

Designate Chair: Humber, Coast and Vale Health & Care Partnership