Agenda item

Andrew Bland, Chief Executive Officer, ICB

Andrew Bland, Chief Executive Officer, NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, presented slides summarising the key developments in establishing the Integrated Care System and Board in South East London from 1^st July 2022 onwards.

He explained that the Integrated Care System brought NHS and local government partners together to improve outcomes for residents. The Integrated Care Board was the established legal entity with a constitution, statutory duties and public money. The South East London Board was large, with responsibility for around two million residents. The Integrated Care Partnership brought together NHS and local authority councillors from each of the six boroughs, with co-chairing between Richard Douglas, the Integrated Care Board Chair and Kieron Williams, Leader of Southwark Council.  The Partnership included Chairs of major NHS organisations and others representing particular interests, such as primary care. The Partnership would drive a strategy aimed at wide solutions beyond just the health service.

The Integrated Care Board aimed to be as delegated as possible. Six “places” based on the boroughs were the foundation of this approach, with authority and financial resources delegated to these six Local Care Partnerships, each with its own individually styled name. Place Executive Leads (PELS) had been appointed for each Partnership. Within the boroughs there were neighbourhoods reflecting the varied characteristics of each area. In addition, the local acute providers were asked to collaborate formally. The South London Mental Health Partnership was also involved (this covered all of south London) as was the Community Provider Network.

Mr Bland summarised the Purpose and Principles  of the Integrated Care Board and System. There were four national purposes – the fourth, to help the NHS support broader social and economic development in south east London, reflected the broader aim of keeping people well – not just treating them when they were ill. The principles were locally set and aimed at (i) partnership rather than competition, (ii) subsidiarity, with decisions made at the most effective level, sometimes quite locally, and (iii) accountability.

Responsibility for specialised services might be passed to the Integrated Care Board in the future; the Board would be taking responsibility for community services including pharmacy, opticians and dentistry on 1^st April 2023.

The Integrated Care Board was directly responsible for about £4bn of expenditure. Adding in expenditure from all NHS partners nearly doubled this amount. In response to questions from Members, Mr Bland confirmed that further details about finance could be circulated after the meeting, and he added that the Board would be receiving financial reports at its meetings which would be held in public and would be looking at wider financial patterns across the region.  Councillors wanted to understand the financial pressure from the acute trusts and getting more resources into community services.

He also confirmed that most of the “Other Income” shown on the slides was from patients coming from outside the area – these would often be from neighbouring areas in London, but Guys and Thomas’ in particular would be drawing patients from across Kent, Surrey and Sussex. In the case of Trusts, such as Oxleas, taking on work beyond south east London, it was up to their Trust Board to consider the impact on core services and decide whether this was appropriate – very often this expanded the ability to innovate.

The Vice-Chair thanked Mr Bland and his colleagues for the presentation.