Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System becomes statutory body

1 July 2022

Today (Friday 1 July) integrated care systems officially kick in as statutory bodies – marking one of the biggest transformations in health and care since the NHS was founded in 1948.

But what does it all mean – both for the public, and for those of us working within health and care organisations?

Friday 1 July 2022 might be a landmark day, but the citizens of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin will notice little to no immediate difference as they continue to access services.

The benefits of more partnership working should be felt over time, however. Integrated care is about giving people the support they need, joined up across local councils, the NHS, and other partners including social care providers, the voluntary and community sector and charities.

When the NHS was set up in the 1940s its aim was to treat symptoms. But it has come a long way since then, supporting people to live healthier lives. This change is continuing along that journey, and aims to bring social care and health even more aligned.

Our health is affected by many things – housing, unemployment, education, poverty, and lifestyle choices. These are things we can address through a partnership between the NHS, local government and the voluntary sector.

Where a difference will be more immediately apparent is amongst the workforce.

That is especially true of the team who were part of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. That organisation, along with all CCGs in England, officially ceased at midnight yesterday (Thursday 30 June 2022).

In its place will step in NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (NHS STW) – a new body which will take on all the commissioning responsibilities of the old CCG, as well as some additional roles.

A new leadership team, headed up by interim chief executive Simon Whitehouse, has already been appointed, and the CCG workforce will automatically shift into the new organisation on 1 July.

NHS STW is one of two statutory elements to the Integrated Care System (ICS). It will be responsible for developing a plan for meeting the health needs of the population in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, managing the NHS budget and arranging for the provision of health services in the ICS area.

Sitting alongside it will be an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) – a statutory committee jointly formed between NHS STW and the two unitary councils within our footprint: Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council. It is the two councils who will take the leading role on this body. The ICP will bring together a broad alliance of partners involved in the delivery of health and care services.

With these governance foundations in place, the actual work of delivering health and care services will be done at both neighbourhood and place level.

Neighbourhoods are where GPs, opticians, dentists, and community pharmacies will work together to deliver primary care. They will all work together in a small local area, within a primary care network, to share resources that better help patients locally.

At place level, several neighbourhoods are brought together. Within our ICS there are two places – Shropshire, and Telford and Wrekin, having the same boundaries as our council areas. Our place-based partnerships are where local hospitals, care providers, local councils, doctors, and the voluntary sector will come together to discuss key health and care issues in their place. These partnerships are known as SHIPP (Shropshire Integrated Place-based Partnership) and TWIPP (Telford and Wrekin Integrated Place-based Partnership).

The ICS has four key purposes:

Improving outcomes in population health and healthcare
Tackling inequalities in outcomes, experience and access
Enhancing productivity and value for money
Supporting broader social and economic development.

They are big goals. Together, we can make them a reality.