Integrated Care System (ICS)

Local Authorities and local health organisations are working together in partnership to provide joined up health, care and well-being systems. This means citizens in their areas will receive the right care at the right time and in the right place. The Health and Care Bill established ICS’s from the 1st of July 2022 as new statutory NHS bodies.

ICSs have four key purposes:

  • improving outcomes in population health and healthcare.
  • tackling inequalities in outcomes, experience and access.
  • enhancing productivity and value for money.
  • supporting broader social and economic development.

The statutory ICS arrangements include:

  • an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), the broad alliance of organisations and representatives concerned with improving the care, health and wellbeing of the population, jointly convened by local authorities and the NHS.
  • an Integrated Care Board (ICB), an organisation bringing the NHS together locally to improve population health and care.

Other important ICS features are:

  • place-based partnerships between the NHS, local councils and voluntary organisations, residents, people who access services, carers and families –these partnerships will lead design and delivery of integrated services.
  • provider collaboratives, bringing NHS providers together across one or more ICSs, working with clinical networks and alliances and other partners, to secure the benefits of working at scale.

Integrated care systems (ICS) in Surrey and Sussex

Information for contractors available here from the South East Commissioning Hub.

Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in Surrey and Sussex

Primary Care Networks build on the core of current primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care at very local levels, serving populations of between 30,000 and 50,000 citizens. Read more about PCNs in Surrey and Sussex.


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