Our NHS – or is it? Changes from 1st July in 2022
What do you understand by the following initials; ICS, ICB,ICP? Better get used to them because they are the future of the NHS from 1st July.
The new Health and Social Care Bill ‘proposes to formalise these new entities from 1st July,’ (in Bristol, North Somerset and South Glos (BNSSG for short ). They already received formal Integrated Care Systems in December 2020, so lets try and understand what it all means.
The ICS means Integrated Care System; the ICB is a new Board which will be responsible for the day to day running of the NHS in BNSSG, it will plan and buy health services from the current people who run the NHS, the CCG, and from NHS England. I know, I know, you thought the NHS was all one system, the hospitals, the GPs, and District Nurses, but it is all a lot more complicated since it changed in 2012!
ICP means Integrated Care Partnerships, which bring together health, social care, public health and other public, voluntary and community sector partners. Bristol has three ICPs and it depends where you live as to which one looks after your health.
So, should you be worried? Don’t we want to see health and social care integrated, put together? Certainly it sounds like a good thing. And if it works it will be, except, some people may not like the idea of Private Healthcare companies being on the Board (ICB remember) which awards healthcare contracts. Yet this is what is being suggested.
On a personal level, I would be happy to give the new system a go, if Private Health Care companies were kept off the Board. Private Healthcare companies are there to make a profit for shareholders, and I don’t personally think that is right, because the only way a business makes a profit is to keep a tight grip on salaries, training costs, and resources which means less money to spend on good care for patients.
So, change is coming! The old NHS is gone forever, like Almoners, who used to look after discharge patients, and the old Hospital Social Workers who replaced them, and GPs who made home visits. We have to live with what we’ve got don’t we? Well, if you want to find out more, We Own IT, is an independent organisation not connected to any political party and can tell you more and what to do about it, and the website NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG can give you the official point of view.
Please look at both to get a balanced view. And thank you for reading.
Judith Brown, BOPF Ambassador
Any personal opinions expressed are of Judith Brown