The Director of
Adult Social Care and Health Integration provided Members with an update
regarding the integration of Health and Social Care; the following points were
made:
- The transition to the new Integrated Care System (ICS) had
progressed significantly.
- The Integrated Care Board (ICB) had been established and held its
first meeting (the Board was responsible for the allocation of funding
across the large geographical area that the North East and Cumbria ICS
covered).
- Membership of the ICB was outlined to the panel and it was
explained that this was driven by statute.
The role of the Local Authority representatives to offer
perspective and contribute to the reflection of the area’s overall
demographic was noted.
- The Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), which was the tier below the
ICB, was responsible for health and wellbeing within the area. This provided opportunity for statutory
and non-statutory organisations to come together and convey their views
for their respective areas. The ICP
had held its first meeting, although the finalised chairmanship
arrangements were still to be determined.
- Below the ICP tier and unique to the North East and Cumbria ICS
were four integrated sub-partnership boards, which reflected the
complexity of the geography. The
structure of these was currently being determined, i.e. whether or not a
formal Committee structure would be most appropriate, but work was currently
ongoing.
- The Director outlined his position/involvement in each of the
tiers.
- An initial objective was to have a health and wellbeing strategy
for each area set in place, by the end of the current financial year. At present, this was in a draft state,
but issues relating to the size of the geographical area had been raised.
During the
discussion that followed, Members queried several points with the Director –
the following information was provided in response:
- There was a great deal of work required for the Director in terms
of being involved with all three tiers, but he felt this was both
manageable and beneficial for consistency; there was no conflict between
the various levels of the ICS. A
flow chart of the ICS would be provided to Members when available. Publication/availability of minutes of
meetings would be determined (the panel noted that the ICB was a Committee
of the NHS). Owing to the size of
the ICS’s geography, Members recognised the diverse needs of people from
Cumbria to Northumberland, and the importance of conveying the five Tees
Local Authorities’ needs to the ICB.
- As work progressed, matters would be reported to the Health
Scrutiny Panel in conjunction with this panel; the relevant Democratic
Services Officers would circulate information as required.
- Regarding Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs), these were
currently being reviewed (Adults JSNA was to be reviewed by December
2022). The ICB required that a
shape/strategy be devised.
Reference was made to a presentation delivered by the Association
of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) at the first ICP meeting in
relation to current work and strategy development, which would be
considered by all partners in line with national timelines.
- Members commented on the significant size of the area that the
North East and Cumbria ICS covered, and highlighted the importance of
ensuring that the needs of the local area were met.
- The Director reiterated the work that had taken place to date,
whilst also referring to legislative drivers, local agreements and
finalised infrastructure.
The Chair thanked
the Director for the information presented.
NOTED