16 Suffolk and North East Essex ICS | ‘Our Journey Together’ 3.2 We brought people and organisations together in new ways Furthering cross sector working At its simplest, the Integrated Care System aimed to bring together everyone involved in local health and care across Suffolk and North East Essex so that they could collaborate more effectively. There is no single mechanism to do this – instead the ICS has stimulated the development of a broad range of new ways that different stakeholders now work together. Inevitably the range of partners working together varies depending on the team, forum or initiative. The overarching aspiration in Suffolk and North East Essex has been to involve partners from across all sectors working together as and where appropriate: • NHS commissioners – NHS ICBs and NHS England • NHS providers • Upper Tier Local Authorities - Social Care and Public Health • District, City and Borough Councils • Primary care – general practice, community pharmacy, dental and eye health • Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) Sector • Social care providers of residential and domiciliary care • Patient, public and community representatives • Education providers, industry partners, and community anchor organisations Collaboration across this breadth of different sectors raises a number of challenges which need to be addressed to enable the delivery of new integrated ways of working. These challenges can include differences in governance and accountability, language and culture, barriers to data sharing or co-location, parity of esteem and enabling a balance of powers. These issues take time and effort to work through and require consistent commitment over time. The reward is the co-creation of new opportunities to enable benefits and improved outcomes for people and communities. Bringing partners together at system level By convening partners at the most senior level, Suffolk and North East Essex ICS enabled many voices to develop system working and joint strategies for integrating health and care. • The principle of system-wide partnership was set first by the ICS Board, and then by the Integrated Care Partnership Committee, which involved representation from over 60 organisations and bodies; • Board structures and governance have enabled wider voices in decision-making. The NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board membership included representation from NHS Trusts, Primary Care, VCFSE and County Councils, with non-executive members providing independent oversight; • The ICS developed system-wide strategic connections and collaborations around common areas of interest. Examples include that in the early days of the system the ICS Estates Workbook was an important step in agreeing a more strategic approach to development of the health and care estate across the system. The ICS People Board brought together workforce leads and education providers to develop career paths into health and care. The ICS End of Life Programme enabled leaders from local hospices, chaplains, hospitals and primary care to collaborate to improve people’s experiences and the delivery of high-quality care; • Elected members are involved through the Health and Wellbeing Boards in Suffolk and Essex, which focus on local residents’ health and wellbeing needs, as well as co-chairing and membership of the ICP Committee. Picture – Amanda Lyes and colleagues who led a strategic approach to estates across the ICS, 2019
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