The Health and Social Care committee has concluded taking oral evidence in their enquiry looking at autonomy and accountability in Integrated Care Systems.
Yesterday, in the final of four sessions on the subject, the committee interviewed Minister of State Helen Whately and NHS England's Chief Delivery Officer Mark Cubbon.
On July 1st, 42 new Integrated Care Systems were established with a legal status across England.
The Health and Social Care Committee launched the inquiry to examine how the ICSs would deliver coordinated health and care services that meet the needs of local communities.
The inquiry sought to consider the role of Integrated Care Boards, a component of an ICS, which hold budgetary responsibility for service improvements, reducing inequalities, promoting innovation and patient choice, and have taken on many of the responsibilities of Clinical Commissioning Groups.
The Integrated Care Partnerships were also looked at, with particular focus placed on their responsible for working with local authorities to produce an integrated care strategy.
One of the key areas of the inquiry’s focus was how ICSs would have the flexibility and autonomy to address inequalities in their populations, and if the pursuit of central targets could be compatible with local autonomy.
The importance of integrated care was brought home at the Leaders Council roundtable discussions, held at the Caledonian Club in November and December last year.
Many of the attendees, who were predominantly from the social care sector, said that integration between social care and the NHS could and should be vastly improved. They spoke about hours of delays that are regularly caused because the two sectors do not communicate adequately.
Crucially, the attendees said that increased funding for care services can lead to cost savings in other areas, including the NHS, as providing timely and high-quality care can prevent hospitalisation and related expenses.
The roundtable discussion also highlighted the need to view care work as a skilled profession, with participants emphasising the importance of paying care workers fairly. The panel agreed that the care sector requires more funding to ensure that workers are paid appropriately.
The Leaders Council regularly hosts roundtable discussions on a variety of topics. We also allow members to suggest topics for discussion and, if there is enough interest from within the membership base, we can create a full discussion around their chosen topic. The findings of these discussions normally feed into special reports to which MPs, Lords and industry bodies regularly contribute.
If you’d like to become a member of the Leaders Council and join the discussion in your sector, you can apply here: https://www.leaderscouncil.co.uk/apply
