Agenda item

Members to receive a report providing an update following the Health and Care Act receiving Royal Assent on progress with the transition of organisational arrangements before the implementation date of 1^st July 2022.

Members received a report updating on the Leicester Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care System (ICS) and its Transition Programme.

Andy Williams CEO introduced the report and gave an overview of the background to the establishment of the LLR ICS Transition Programme, system preparedness, committee appointments to the Integrated Care Board (ICB), the Executive Management structure and governance arrangements for the ICB and ICS.

Members were reminded that the new Health and Care Act 2022 had received Royal Assent in April 2022 and the new Integrated Care Board (ICB) would be created from 1 July 2022 and will assume responsibilities for delivery of NHS care.

Andy Williams clarified the acronyms Integrated Care System (ICS);  Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) all as set out in the Act.

Members noted that progress towards establishing the ICB was going well, and the 3 CCG’s would meet on 28^th June 2022, the formal AGM had been brought forward to present accounts in public domain and then those CCGs would be closed down.

In terms of the ICB membership it was noted that David Sissling, Chair of ICB had exercised the remit to widen board where possible to give better representation.

Members commented that the information set out in the report was complex and confusing and should be further considered to show who was making decisions.

Andy Williams clarified that the role of ICB was to facilitate NHS working together. Decisions around the NHS and the way it responds to national government guidance would be predominantly through the ICB.  The ICB was the statutory body of ICS with discretion to do ICP too. The ICP would be an equal partnership and nominations for membership of that had been requested.

Strong concerns were raised about the accessibility of documents which for some were impenetrable. The public were unaware of who was responsible for what in terms of communications and the ICS needed to better understand what the receiver was going to receive. Online solutions were not always helpful, and it was suggested that having straight forward documentation that people could refer to would be helpful.

David Sissling, Chair of ICB commented that the material produced was required to show governance and constitutional arrangements, and one of the ICS first tasks will be to ensure accessibility.

Andy Williams confirmed that they would be working on making documents accessible and had received that feedback from others too.

In relation to the Health and Wellbeing partnership referred to at page 64 of the report it was advised that there was currently a small core membership to ensure they could orchestrate the wider membership described otherwise it would be too unwieldy at outset. The small core group would meet to initiate matters, and this would involve partnership with the 3 Health and Wellbeing Boards so there would be broader engagement. As far as where Healthwatch sits, Healthwatch were engaged automatically by the Health & Wellbeing Boards. It was confirmed that Healthwatch would be represented on the Integrated Care Board (ICB)

There was concern that the patient and public voice was missing and it was confirmed that the intention was to facilitate that through the reach of the Health & Wellbeing partnership.

Regarding location it was informed that the ICB was a small organisation and would be situated in the former CCG office at County Hall, Glenfield. It was noted a lot of work had been carried out on decentralising and having officers work alongside partners and other NHS organisations.

The Chair thanked officers for the update and responding to the committees questions.

AGREED:

That the report be noted and a progress update brought to the March 2023 meeting of the committee.