Guidance on Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) engagement

The Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the Local Government Association’s have published guidance on their expectations for the role of Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs) within Integrated Care Systems.

The government has brought forward proposals in its Health and Care Bill to implement statutory arrangements for Integrated Care Systems which have two elements:

• Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs) – the statutory committee of the ICS, being a 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.
• Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) – a statutory body that will be responsible for the commissioning of healthcare services in that ICS area, bringing the NHS together locally to improve population health and care. The ICBs will take on the current functions and budgets of Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Local authorities and designated ICB Chairs and Boards have a statutory and equal responsibility for establishing ICPs from April 2022. The Guidance aims to support them to consider what arrangements might work best in their area when laying the foundations for establishing ICPs.

It is intended that ICPs will engage with a range of stakeholders to develop an integrated care strategy and make decisions. Decisions should be based on evidence of what works, local data and insights from people with lived experience of health and social services. ICP’s will be transparent and accountable to the local community, by meeting in public with minutes and papers available online.

This Guidance is intended to be the start of a conversation and the first step in a wider engagement process. It is intended that there will be future engagement with wider partners and communities on: what their hopes and expectations are for ICPs; how they would like to be engaged in ICPs; and whether there are any specific matters they would like to see clarified in future guidance.