Clinical and care professional leadership in integrated care systems

Clinical and care professional leadership in integrated care systems
NHS Confederation 3 September 2021

• A thematic report from engagement events in March 2021 and mini literature review to inform guidance to support embedding system-wide clinical and professional leadership in all integrated care systems.

Embedding digital in the ICS landscape

Embedding digital in the ICS landscape
HSJ 19 July 2021 [subscription required]

• Report of An HSJ webinar which discussed some of the challenges facing England’s integrated care systems around digital development. The panellists discussed a variety of issues including use of data from across the board – including borough councils – to help determine need and plan services. They also discussed the importance of building confidence in clinicians and the public, and getting the right funding for the right things. 
• Panellists were Mike Farrar, former head of the NHS Confederation; Jas Cartwright, Worcestershire Hospitals Acute Trust and Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICS; Declan Hadley, Cisco. Webinar recording available here.

How might leadership roles evolve in integrated health and care systems?

How might leadership roles evolve in integrated health and care systems?
SCIE March 2021

• This report for the NHS leadership Academy explores some of the implications of the Long Term Plan and its supporting plans on leadership within local health and care systems, the roles that may emerge over time, and what knowledge, skills and support leaders need in the future. The report provides an overview of research carried out to better understand how leadership roles are changing in the health and social care leaders sector, especially in collaborative and integrated health and care systems.

Improving the scrutiny of integrated care systems and sustainability and transformation partnerships: A guide to good practice
NHS Confederation 6 February 2020

• This guidance aims to help scrutiny leads and communications and engagement directors within ICSs and STPs to understand how they might work more effectively together to produce a relationship that works in the best interests of local partnerships and communities.
• The paper covers:
• The experiences of scrutiny leads and their supporting officers in engaging with ICSs and STPs to date.
• The steps that ICSs and STPs could take to improve these relationships.
• The way that the role of health scrutiny might evolve to support the move to whole system partnership thinking.

Evaluating preventative investments in public health in England

Evaluating preventative investments in public health in England
CIPFA 1 May 2019

• In this report, PHE and CIPFA argue that a culture change in the way local organisations evaluate long-term investment in prevention is key to making the most of the proposed shift to Integrated Care Systems by 2021. The overall ambition is to change the way that prevention is considered – it should be viewed and treated as an investment, and properly reported as such. Moving forward, PHE and CIPFA are interested in supporting and challenging finance professionals to pick up these ideas and integrate them into everyday practice.
• The report identifies existing tools and resources which could be utilised across different types of intervention, across different organisations and at local, regional or national levels to evaluate preventative investment.
• The report concludes that:
• 1. Use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) methodology can provide a balanced evaluation of the financial and economic costs and benefits of preventative investment.
• 2. The Green Book/New Economy model is well-suited to judging the comparative merits of such investments and allows a whole-system view to facilitate decisions on a place-based basis.
• 3. Using International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) guidance and the principles of the Prudential Code2 would allow for consideration of the impact of such investment, particularly on long-term financial sustainability, and would enable comparative assessment of investment across time and place.

Consultation feedback on Integrated Care Provider Contract

Contracting arrangements for integrated care providers – response to consultation
NHS England March 2019

• NHS England has published its response following a consultation held about a new contract which can help local health and care communities provide better care for patients.
• The ICP Contract will give commissioners the option to commission services through a single contract, to build in integration and remove operational barriers.
• The feedback will be used to further develop the ICP Contract, which will be available in its updated form as an option for use in local health and care systems from spring 2019. Neither use of the ICP Contract nor adoption of lead provider models for integration will be mandatory: they will be options for local commissioners and their providers to consider.

CCGs - House of Commons Public Accounts Committee

Clinical Commissioning Groups 
House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, 8 March 2019

• An examination of the work of CCGs and the impact of the NHS Long Term Plan on the future of CCGs.
• Recommendations relate to CCG performance and accountability, an update on the relationship between CCGs and Integrated Care Systems, expected number of CCGs, estimate of CCGs redundancies, input of local GPs into CCG decision making, CCG focus on the needs of larger population groups, and legislative changes.

Report summary and recommendations:

Some Legal Implications of the NHS Long Term Plan

Some Legal Implications of the NHS Long Term Plan
Hempsons 19 February 2019

• In order to improve access to services, the Long Term Plan (LTP) sets out ambitions for better integration between primary, secondary and community services for patients. 
• This note highlights some of the legal implications of the LTP in particular around procurement, competition, workforce, and Primary Care Networks / Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships / Integrated Care Systems.

System working - new guide supports workforce sharing

System working - new guide supports workforce sharing
NHS Employers 15 February 2019

• As organisations and integrated care systems develop ways of collaborative, place-based patient care, this guidance for employers supports staff movement across NHS organisations as part of workforce sharing agreements. It includes:
• advice on developing workforce sharing agreements
• useful templates and practical issues to consider
• legal considerations to be taken into account by employers.

CCG admin budgets to be cut by 20 per cent

CCG admin budgets to be cut by a fifth
HSJ 26 November 2018 (subscription required)

• HSJ has reported that a letter sent to CCGs by NHS England ahead of the long term plan, has said that “administration” limits will be introduced for each CCG in the next financial year, and they must reduce admin budgets by 20 per cent.
• According to the letter one of the ways "suggested" by NHS England is closer working with CSUs to cut costs, CCGs must simplify payments to CSUs and move away from payment by results.
• The letter from Matthew Swindells, deputy chief executive at NHS England, and regional directors, said CCGs can save money by “exploring mergers and joint ways of working”. To support this, it said it will now approve mergers throughout the year rather than once a year, as is currently the case. It said: “[It] will particularly support approaches which align a single CCG with a single ICS.”
• The letter also confirmed the new regional NHS England structure will support the development of ICS and sustainability and transformation partnerships.

What has the STP or ICS ever done for me? [blog]

What has the STP or ICS ever done for me? [Blog by Chris Ham]
Kings Fund 17 May 2018

• Chris Ham describes the ambitions outlined in the plans prepared in 2016 which are being delivered by STPs and ICSs in neighbourhoods, places and systems.

NEL CSU wins national contract to build population health dashboard

NEL CSU wins national contract to build population health dashboard
Digital Health 26 March 2018

• A consortium led by North East London CSU has won an NHS England contract to design and build a performance and population health management dashboard. The dashboard will hinge on Cerner’s HealtheIntent solution – a cloud-based platform that can collate data from various entry points including EPRs – and will be used by integrated care systems (ICSs) in England.
• The end-product is intended to be “an interactive, easy-to-use dashboard” that will help ICS sites “benchmark their system, understand the impact they are making and identify key opportunities to improve patient care”.