38 Suffolk and North East Essex ICS | ‘Our Journey Together’ 5.4 Create opportunities to build belonging and understanding Opportunities for everyone to be part of the system Many stakeholders told us how much they had valued ICS and system forums - the ICS Board, ICP Committee, Alliances, ICS Chairs Group, etc. - as neutral and safe spaces where partner organisations could build trust, and where conflict and concerns could be surfaced, discussed and resolved. They also valued the programme of ICP events and Assemblies for VCFSE sector and people and communities as providing opportunities for partners to come together to hear diverse experiences, learn different perspectives and to find shared solutions. Convening people in different ways has encouraged new ways of thinking and working together, and stakeholders universally believed that this principle must continue going forward. The Suffolk and North East Essex ICS ecosystem also contained a broad range of spaces and opportunities which were deliberately engineered in ways of working that enabled people, communities and partner organisations to meet and share their experiences and their views. These have collectively enabled literally thousands of stakeholders across the local health and care ‘ecosystem’ to be engaged with and to be a part of the ICS: • The ICS Board, and after 2022 the ICP Committee always included representation from the full breadth of ICS partners including VCFSE sector, social care providers and those representing people and communities. The broad membership of the ICP Committee was intentional to include a wide range of partners from every sector; • The NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB Board included a voting member representing the VCFSE sector, representation from the ICP and tried to include a focus on lived experience at every meeting; • The ICS Chairs Group engaged non-executive and elected leaders from across all sectors in regular semi-formal meetings focused on deepening understanding and building relationships; • ICS events such as ‘Thinking Differently Together’ and ‘System Learning’, ‘How do we Heal?’ after COVID-19, and the ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ campaign incorporated a broad range of lived and learned experiences. Written reports of these events were always produced and published online to ensure wider access to what had been shared and to build on the discussion subsequently; • Local Alliance meetings engaged a broader range of more local stakeholders relevant to specific local areas – this included the Connect programme in Suffolk that engaged a very broad range of local community organisations; • The Suffolk and North East Essex annual EXPO event was described as an example of good practice by NHS Confederation. Attended by up to 1500 delegates each event provided structured and unstructured opportunities for stakeholders to network with other stakeholders in the system; • In 2024 and 2025 annual ICS Awards celebrated the difference being made in delivering improvements at the frontline with awards given to stakeholders from every sector and shared their case studies; Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System (ICS) 1. Introduction Online event Wednesday 17 March 2021 ‘Thinking Differently Together’ about… Social Value and Social Entrepreneurs Social value asks the question: ‘If £1 is spent on the delivery of services, can that same £1 be used to also produce a wider benefit to the community?’ “Thinking Differently Together” about social value is about looking beyond the costs of individual contracts or services, to the social, economic and environmental benefit to a community. By focusing on social value, we can support inclusive employment opportunities and seek wider value to areas such as environment, climate action and zero carbon. Our event, which was attended by over 100 people, explored how, as local health and care partners, we can collectively support, address and commit to working within the anchor network and with system partners on this agenda to maximise the collective influence we have in addressing socio-economic and environmental determinants. It included first-hand experiences, discussed where we are now and how we can all work together to get to where we need to go. Our event was chaired by Helen Taylor, Chair of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust who also chairs our ICS Anchors Programme Board. Social value and social entrepreneurship will be a significant element of the Board’s work, and this event supports its development going forward. Helen introduced our event by explaining that as we emerge from the pandemic and think about the next stage of recovery, we should reflect on the approach of Professor Sir Michael Marmot, that we should not only be Building Back Better, but we should be Building Back Fairer. We know that there are significant health inequalities in Suffolk and North East Essex, and that Covid-19 has exposed and amplified those inequalities. Many of the containment measures that have had to be taken through the pandemic, such as lockdowns, tier systems and social isolation will have all had further impacts on people’s health and wellbeing and inequalities. Thinking about how we can add social value through the activities of our partner organisations, and the role of social entrepreneurs will be critical to our health and care system Building Back Fairer. Source: United Nations Helen Taylor, Chair of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust 1 | Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System
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