48 Suffolk and North East Essex ICS | ‘Our Journey Together’ 5.8 Nurture a healthy ecosystem that enables everyone to thrive Internal and external confidence in the system There were a number of stakeholders who contributed their reflections to this review who were able to look back across almost the whole of the journey of the ICS over the last decade. They thought it important to note that the Suffolk and North East Essex health and care system felt as though it was in a far stronger position at the end of this journey than it had at the beginning. Stakeholders felt that now in 2026 there was both internal and external confidence in the Suffolk and North East Essex ICS and a tangible sense that much had been accomplished during ‘Our Journey Together’. Within the system, stakeholders felt that there was a sense of maturity to the relationships in Suffolk and North East Essex and a genuinely ‘Can Do’ culture with distributed leadership, deeply rooted in collaboration. The high levels of trust that have been built enable the system to be fast to action whether acting together to manage challenges or to take advantage of new opportunities. There has also been some stability in local system leadership roles with a number of key leaders working together for many years. Importantly, during a period of time in which many NHS systems around the country had been overspent, by contrast the Suffolk and North East Essex system has met its financial duties and been financially stable for many years. This has brought about a range of benefits and additional investment in the local health and care system. However, not everything is perfect. In common with other systems, individual organisations in the Suffolk and North East Essex system face local challenges including the quality of some local NHS services, financial and demand pressures. Some partners are very concerned that NHS and local authority transformation will impact their trust and relationships going forward. Externally, at the end of ‘Our Journey Together’ in 2026 the Suffolk and North East Essex ICS is generally regarded as a high-performing, collaborative, data-driven, forward-thinking, well-governed and innovative system with a strong and positive reputation, particularly in areas of: • Strong partnerships across health, care and community sectors • Population health management and national recognition for data excellence • System-wide collaboration and strategic planning • Early adoption of prevention-focused, neighbourhood-based models • Visible commitment to prevention and inequality reduction • Transparent, robust reporting and assurance structures Contribution to national and international thinking on integrated health and care Multiple leaders from Suffolk and North East Essex contribute to programmes aiming to advance integrated health and care nationally and internationally. This includes teaching on national and international programmes on system leadership and innovation, leading national policy development on strategic commissioning, publishing international research in coproduction, and leading the national forum for the VCFSE sector in integrated care. The ICS has been featured positively in numerous publications by the King’s Fund, NHS Confederation, Healthwatch, Healthcare Leader and others as an example of good practice. The ICS has also been a national pilot site for numerous programmes including all three Alliance areas being selected for the new National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP). A healthy environment that enables success Overall stakeholders felt that over the last decade both internal and external confidence had contributed to a generally positive, healthy environment which had then been key to enabling the success of numerous local initiatives. Good things have been able to thrive by taking root in the healthy environment of a local health and care ecosystem that had been nurtured to believe deeply in ‘Can Do’ health and care.
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