57 Suffolk and North East Essex ICS | ‘Our Journey Together’ 7.3 An integration and collaboration perspective There is much to celebrate as partners across Suffolk and North East Essex prepare for the next chapter of their local health and care system’s journey. This valuable report marks an important milestone and offers a timely moment to reflect on the progress made and the learning gained so far. Along with colleagues at The King’s Fund, I have had the privilege of being alongside Suffolk and North East Essex ICS at various points over the past decade as it has sought to put into practice the real work of integration. Doing so has required a sustained commitment to building the infrastructure, behaviours and cultures that enable collaboration and support a genuinely population-focused, place-based approach. Our work at The King’s Fund highlights six practices essential for effective collaborative leadership: creating safe, inclusive and trusting environments; developing shared purpose and identity; building healthy relationships; actively managing power dynamics; surfacing and navigating conflict; and fostering genuinely shared decision making. SNEE’s experience demonstrates many of these principles in action. While never straightforward, the examples in this report show how sustained effort has enabled the system, in many cases, to move further and faster in improving health and wellbeing. SNEE also stands out for its attention to equity, voice and lived experience. At the King’s Fund, we often talk about the need for a shift from doing to or doing for people towards doing with people and communities. Doing with is not a slogan; it demands a practical re-orientation of power, purpose and practice. It means starting with what matters to people in their lives, co-designing responses, and blending the assets of communities with the capabilities of public services. In the moments where SNEE has been at its best – mobilising neighbourhood teams, partnering with voluntary and community organisations, and tackling inequalities head on – that “withist” mindset has been visible. The progress and achievements described in this report have been hard won. Complex geographical boundaries have required ingenuity and patience; services have faced high and rising demand, constrained resources and workforce fatigue. The period ahead will undoubtedly bring further turbulence. Pressures on services show little sign of easing, financial constraints risk pulling leaders back towards narrow targets and short-termism, and organisational restructuring can distract and strain relationships. In such contexts, it may feel tempting to retreat into silos. But SNEE’s experience shows why this is not the answer. As the system continues to evolve, my hope is that partners across SNEE can build on - and double down on - the essentials that have served them so well: leading collaboratively with a relentless focus on people and purpose; tending to the “soft wiring” of relationships and trust; and making “doing with” the default approach. Anna Charles Senior Fellow, Policy The King’s Fund 7.4 A whole systems stewardship perspective Over the past decade, Suffolk and North East Essex has undertaken something that is both rarer and more demanding than a conventional programme of organisational change. It has attempted a shift in how a whole system thinks, relates, decides and acts. That is a far deeper ambition than integrating services or aligning strategies. It is an attempt to move from a landscape shaped by siloed, metrics driven, short term optimisation towards a more relational, purpose led and whole systems way of stewarding health and care. Having had the privilege to work alongside leaders and partners across Suffolk and North East Essex as a thinking partner and facilitator, what has struck me most is not simply what has been achieved, but how it has been achieved. Again and again, the system chose the harder path. It chose to invest in relationships rather than rely solely on structures. It chose to put purpose before organisational comfort. It chose to make space for multiple perspectives, including those of
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