Integrated Care Systems
Integrated Care Systems (ICS), Integrated Care
Partnership (ICP) & Integrated Care Board
(ICB) Meets Finance & Procurement.
Integrated care systems (ICSs) covering the whole of English NHS, are partnerships of organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services, and to improve the lives of people who live and work in their area.
Following the Health and Care Act (2022), 42 ICSs were established across England on 1 July 2022.
Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs) are statutory committees that bring together a population-based model of care that integrate primary, secondary, community and other health and care services under one single provider contract. They will work on a broad set of system partners (including local government, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE), NHS organisations and others) to develop a health and care strategy for the area.
This statutory committee jointly formed between the NHS integrated care board and all upper-tier local authorities that fall within the ICS area.
The Integrated Care Board (ICB’s) function is to arrange for the ‘provision of services for the purpose of the NHS in England and is a statutory NHS organisation responsible for developing a plan for meeting the health needs of the population, managing the NHS budget and arranging for the provision of health service in the ICS area.
If we take a break down all 3 areas of ICS’s, ICP’s and ICB’s they all have 4 key objectives:
Stronger partnerships in local places between the NHS, local government and others with a more central role for primary care in providing joined-up care;
Provider Organisations being asked to step forward in formal collaborative arrangements that allow them to operate at scale;
Developing strategic commissioning through systems with a focus on population health outcomes
The use of digital and data to drive system working, connect health and care providers, improve outcomes and put the citizen at the heart of their own care.
“NEP have been instrumental in our spend comparison service, as their consortium cover a large section of procurement spend in the NHS, this, combined with their robust data quality, and automation, quick turnaround and outlook into supporting the NHS has supported us in getting us to where we are today. It is a pleasure to work with our NHS NEP Colleagues.”
Levente Fazekas
Spend Analytics & Data Standards Lead NHS England
It is fair to say, that the majority of integrated solutions refers to community and clinical systems. However, how important are our finance and procurement solutions in the grand scheme of things?
Where do finance and procurement functions fit in and how important are they?
Here at NEP, we already have in place the ability to consolidate reporting, having a standard set of data and enabling any ICS the ability to have a turn key solution at their fingertips. All without having to further invest in the additional expense, cost and resource of implementing a new solution, which may or may not meet your immediate requirements.
- Collaboration, sharing knowledge and skill across the NHS is key for any ICB, by having one solution that you know is robust, 100% built for the NHS by the NHS and have the assurance that NEP Cloud is on the latest technologies at all times, removes the worry and enables ICB’s to concentrate in the common good in driving health, wealth and wellbeing at the heart of improving inequalities in the region.
- NEP Cloud is predominately an enabler, and one that underpins the ethos of being at the forefront of innovation, sharing knowledge and true collaboration. Having the right people managing and understanding the NHS, it enables ICB’s to concentrate in transforming care.
- NEP already has the ability to share information across our geographical area, and also have the ability to run shared services between organisations, with the assurance, knowing that as technology evolves like Peppol, those shared service costs will significantly reduce.
- NEP has the ability to report both across organisations and centrally, no retraining required as it is all on one system.
- Our solution is already reporting in terms of procurement and AP data to the centre across multiple organisational basis, and with common chart of accounts, suppliers, customers alike, this places all our organisations in a strong position in assisting in the strategic and developing needs of ICS and ICB’s.
- Working collaboratively and with latest technologies available to the NHS combined with innovation to support both providers and commissioners in the future.
- If you have an ERP solution that is robust, reliable and one in which is run effectively, with the knowledge that innovation is always evolving on the NEP Cloud platform, you can conclude that you are in a safe pair of hands with least risk.
- The 3 monthly updates on our solution, NEP Cloud, gives our clients that assurance that we are always, at the top of the game and have no concerns in this area as know it is being managed, that assurance is key for our clients.
- Standardised Chart of Accounts, Suppliers and Customers – one solution is here today