A new collaborative health and care organisation with a responsibility for providing
£1.5 billion of services to the people of Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and
Wiltshire has been established.
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board came
into being at one minute past midnight on Friday 1st July, following a successful
transition from the region’s former clinical commissioning group.
Officials from the new organisation will meet during a virtual day one meeting in
public to herald its arrival, discuss future plans and answer questions submitted in
advance from people living in the local area.
The ICB for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire is one of 42
others that have been established across England as part of national plans to
improve integration between health and care organisations serving the same
geography.
Following Parliamentary approval, and the subsequent Royal Assent, of the new
Health and Care Act 2022, which outlines the need for more effective collaboration
and better joined-up working, CCGs have been dissolved to make way for integrated
care boards that will bring more cohesion to local health and care systems.
Sue Harriman, Chief Executive, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and
Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said: “This is day one of a brand new organisation,
and it is incredibly exciting to look ahead, and to think of all that can be achieved
through genuine integration and real collaboration.
“However, while we have big plans, many of which build on strengthening the ties
partners forged during the pandemic, today marks only the start of a long journey to
truly change how we deliver health and care to local people.”
Stephanie Elsy, Chair, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire
Integrated Care Board, said: “For too long, residents have spoken of a health and
care system that feels overly complicated and, at times, confusing, but we now aim
to change that by bringing all our various health and care partners together around a
single table.
“The integrated care board will make it easier for the NHS, local government and
voluntary sector to work as one, which in turn should create a more seamless
journey of care for patients, especially those who receive help from multiple partners, such as older people who may be visited at home, but still need to attend
appointments in hospital or with their GP.”
As a sovereign statutory body, the ICB will work collaboratively to improve outcomes
in population health, provide better joined-up care, reduce health inequalities and
enhance productivity and value for money, while also helping the NHS support
broader social and economic development.
The board itself will sit within the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and
Wiltshire Integrated Care System, known as BSW Together.
This is a wider network of local health and care organisations that will plan and
organise how health and care services can be delivered across the region, while also
committing to give local people and communities a louder voice in how services are
provided locally.
Those organisations that make up the ICS include the region’s three NHS foundation
trusts, 88 GP practices and three local councils, as well as the ambulance service,
community caregivers, mental health providers and hundreds of local voluntary,
community and social enterprise groups.
