The Integrated Care Board (ICB) is a statutory body responsible for local NHS services, functions, performance and budgets. It is directly accountable to the NHS and is made up of local NHS trusts, primary care providers, and local authorities.
The ICB is responsible for joining up care services to improve patient experience in the community. The Board includes a chair, the chief executive and representatives from NHS organisations, primary care (GPs) and local authorities (councils).
The Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) is a statutory committee that brings together all system partners to produce a health and care strategy. As a forum to support partnership working, the ICP brings together local authorities, health and social care, and housing providers.
How does it work?
The ICB helps bring together hospitals and family doctors, physical and mental health, the NHS, local councils and community and voluntary sector services.
By bringing together partners, it allows for greater input from all those involved in delivering services, resulting in better care wrapped around individuals.
Why do we have an Integrated Care Board?
The ICB ensures that the best possible care is available to people in our communities. It constantly assesses what needs to change to meet the level and complexity of care in the county. The ICB ensures that integrated care improves population health and reduces inequalities between different groups.
ICB 10 Year Plan
Integrated Care Northamptonshire (ICN) is excited to share a newly launched 10-year strategy to support people in Northamptonshire to ‘Live Your Best Life’.
This strategy has been developed together by NHS providers, local councils, voluntary and community organisations and other partners, with a focus on enabling residents to benefit from equitable opportunities to live their best life, whoever they are and wherever they live in the county.
Our vision is bold: we want to work better together in Northamptonshire to create a place where people and their loved ones are active, confident and empowered to take personal responsibility for good health and wellbeing, with quality integrated support and services available for them if and when they need help.
ICN’s work to develop this strategy together shows the commitment from organisations to improve outcomes for residents in Northamptonshire and deliver change through shared working and community involvement.
Many are aware of the significant challenges currently facing health and care services locally and nationally. It is only by working together as ICN with shared aims that we can face up to these challenges and improve the health and wellbeing of those who live and work in our county.
The strategy sets out how we can achieve better outcomes throughout all stages of a person’s lifetime: from pregnancy, birth and early years, through improved education and better employment opportunities, to better access to health and care services right through to the end of life – all the time supporting everyone to be valued for who they are.
To help meet our vision, a set of 10 ‘Live Your Best Life’ ambitions have been developed to deliver better outcomes for the people of Northamptonshire over the coming years. Each ambition looks at the approaches we need to take together to help us improve outcomes in partnership with our residents.
As we move forward, plans are under way to engage and involve our local communities throughout Northamptonshire with the delivery of the strategy, to ensure the voice of our people remains at the centre of all we do.
Our new Local Area Partnerships (LAPS), representing neighbourhoods and localities of between 30,000 and 50,000 people across the county, will give a voice to residents, involving them in new services and solutions for their local area. This will be guided by a Community Engagement Framework (CEF), which sets a blueprint for how we will engage with the public and will be an integral part of achieving our 10 ‘Live Your Best Life’ ambitions.
Further information can be found at NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board.