Hucknall and Bulwell: New NHS body to bring together health and social care in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

NHS hospitals, GPs and community services have come together to join up services and to improve people’s health as well as treat illnesses.

A new NHS body has taken over from the old Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG), strengthening the way the NHS and other health care providers work together to improve the health of people across the county.

The new NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) was established on July 1.

It will be the NHS organisation with responsibility for planning to meet local health needs, allocating resources, ensuring that the services are joined up, and overseeing delivery of improved health and wellbeing for the county’s population.

One of the ways that the new organisation will be different includes the appointment of leaders from across health and care forming an NHS executive for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

This means that decisions about how to spend the NHS budget will be jointly made by expert doctors, nurses and managers from NHS organisations and the local councils.

In addition, following the decision by the government in 2021, the ICB formally welcomes Bassetlaw as part of this joint working across health and care in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire from 1 July 2022.

The ICB will be part of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System (ICS), continuing to work with partners in local authority, the voluntary sector and others, tackling inequalities in health outcomes, and supporting broader social and economic development.

One of the ways that this will happen is through the establishment of a new joint committee between the ICB and Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, which will be known as the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).

This means that, for the first time, there will be a single place where the NHS and councils all come together to agree a strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

Dr Kathy McLean, chair of the ICB, said: “This much welcomed change will bring health and care organisations together in new ways, with a greater emphasis on collaboration and aligning the work of system partners.

“I am excited for what the future holds as we start to work together and plan in detail how we build on what is working well and make real positive changes to enable each and every citizen to enjoy their best possible health and wellbeing.”

The ICB appointed five executive directors in May, all of whom are highly experienced and ready to take the new organisation forwards.

A further four non-executive members have also been appointed along with partner members bringing expertise from the local councils, mental health services and our hospitals.

Amanda Sullivan, chief executive of the ICB said: “We believe we have talent and teams in our local NHS and care system to be able to make a real difference to citizens’ health and wellbeing, quality of service delivery and use of resources.

“Our philosophy is to build on what is working well and to act as one system, rather than a collection of organisations.

“Whilst we still have considerable work to do, we believe we can enable each and every citizen to enjoy their best possible health and wellbeing.”