37 Suffolk and North East Essex ICS | ‘Our Journey Together’ Picture – Meeting of the Suffolk and North East Essex ICS People and Communities Assembly, 2025 Setting meaningful ambitions for the system Since the outset the ICS has discussed a range of whole system overarching ambitions and strategies, as well as plans for different health conditions and for healthcare in each of its three alliance areas. Early on Suffolk and North East Essex ICS partners agreed ‘Higher Ambitions’ which included ambitions for healthy living, mental health and wellbeing, cancer, obesity, health inequalities, ageing and end of life care. Later on the ICP developed the ICS Integrated Care Strategy ‘Future Shift’xl, the NHS ICB its Joint Forward Plan (JFP) and the three local Alliance plans – all of which incorporated the six ‘Live Well’ domains: start well, be well, stay well, feel well, age well and die well. Stakeholders reflected on how important it was that ICS strategies and plans were created with the genuine involvement of both local people and communities and also statutory and non-statutory partners. Stakeholders valued the creation of ‘neutral space’ for strategy development, and that local Health and Wellbeing Boards were involved (Health and Wellbeing Board chairs were also closely involved in the ICS most recently as co-chairs for the ICP Committee). However, whilst the ICS strategies complement the Health and Wellbeing Board’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies, the lack of coterminous boundaries did mean that stakeholders felt that full alignment could sadly never be achieved. Some stakeholders told us they felt that the ambitions were inspirational but were not always translated into meaningful actions as many organisations and sectors continue to operate in siloes, limiting the opportunities for integrated working. Rigid organisational and commissioning structures, and perceptions about who ‘owns’ a project or initiative, do not allow for the flexibility needed to enable more imaginative use of resources. Funding constraints can inhibit opportunities to collaborate. Procurement and monitoring processes can be disproportionately burdensome for freelancers and small organisations. Picture – ICP Co-Chairs Cllr. John Spence, Prof. Will Pope and Cllr. Steve Wiles with ICP Director, Susannah Howard, September 2024
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA4ODM=