The final 13 areas set to become Integrated Care Systems in England have been announced, with the process to be completed on 1 April.
NHS Chief Executive, Sir Simon Stevens, said of the move: “Partnership working has been at the heart of the NHS’s remarkable response to the coronavirus pandemic and the NHS vaccination programme. Now GPs, hospitals, pharmacists, local authorities, and community groups have also come together to deliver COVID jabs to more than 22 million people across England in a matter of weeks. We have seen what the NHS pulling together can do in the most testing period in the health service’s history.”
A total of 42 ICSs will cover the whole of England and are made up of hospital, community and mental health trusts, GPs and other primary care services with local authorities and other care providers.
The final 13 ICS areas are:
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
- Mid and South Essex
- The Black Country and West Birmingham
- Herefordshire and Worcestershire
- Northamptonshire
- Coventry and Warwickshire
- Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland
- Lincolnshire
- Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
- Cheshire and Merseyside
- Kent and Medway
- Devon
The NHS has made recommendations to the government to remove the legislative red tape that prevents healthcare bodies collaborating and working together. As a result, a white paper has been released to help foster collaboration between local care networks and organisations.
The other existing ICS areas are:
- South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw
- Frimley
- Dorset
- Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes
- Nottinghamshire
- Lancashire and South Cumbria
- Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West
- Greater Manchester
- West Yorkshire and Harrogate
- South East London
- South West London
- Humber, Coast and Vale
- Sussex
- Hertfordshire and West Essex
- Norfolk and Waveney
- Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire
- Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
- Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
- Somerset
- Birmingham and Solihull
- Derbyshire
- Hampshire and the Isle of Wight
- North West London
- North Central London
- North East London
- Berkshire West
- Surrey
- Gloucestershire
- North Cumbria
Amanda Pritchard, Chief Operating Officer for NHS England and Improvement, said: “This milestone is a great achievement, which shows the strength of system collaboration across the country. The ICSs have proven their value over the past year and will play an increasingly important role in the restoration, recovery and transformation of services for the benefit of patients and citizens.”
