Launch of new Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board

“We will make Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly a great place to be born, to live and to grow old.”

That’s the promise Kate Shields, the chief executive officer of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s new integrated care system (ICS) and NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) made on Friday 1 July to celebrate its launch.

For nearly 10 years the local NHS, Cornwall Council, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, the community sector, and partners have been working closer together to ensure people receive joined-up health and care services, when they need them.

Friday’s launch of the ICS and ICB is an important milestone on that journey as it legally formalises this commitment to work together to improve people’s experiences of health and care services and reduce health inequalities to ensure everyone has the same access and opportunities, regardless of where they live.

The new NHS ICB is now responsible for a £1.17 billion budget to commission a range of services, and board members met for the first time on Friday. It is led by chairman John Govett and chief executive officer Kate Shields. They are supported on the ICB board by 5 ICB non-executive members and other statutory partner members representing:

• mental health providers (led by the chief executive of Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS providers (led by the chief executive of Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust)
• primary medical care (led by 1 of the place-based managing directors)
• local authorities (led by the wellbeing director from Cornwall Council representing both Cornwall Council and Council of the Isles of Scilly
• the ICB’s chief finance officer, chief medical officer, a chief nursing officer, director of inclusion (commissioning), and director of transformation and partnerships

The ICS has also agreed to the ICB statutory board being supported by a range of ICB board participants and attendees who will between them represent a range of other sectors, key to connecting health and care locally.

“Today is very exciting as it gives our health and care system a unique opportunity to come together to transform the way we deliver care. We need to ensure we deal with the health inequalities across the county and do things at a place and community level. We need to transform the way we do things, and our ICS and ICB give us the opportunity to do this differently. We are driven by a clear goal of putting people’s needs at the heart of everything we do and making decisions that are underpinned by clinical evidence and providing services within the finances we have available to us. Our first board meeting was successful and I am looking forward to working with everyone to deliver our aims.”

John Govett, ICB chairman

Decisions about health and care services will be taken at a place and community-based level. To support this there are 3 new integrated care areas (ICAs) for west, central, and north and east Cornwall. Each ICA is led by a managing director; GPs John Garman, Rob White and Andy Sant, who will continue to spend around half their time working in their practice, and the other half working with organisations to develop high quality services that meet the needs of people living in their ICA, providing care closer to people’s homes, and reduce health inequalities.

“Our aim as an ICS is to make sure everyone is looked after as close to home as possible, and by people who know them and understand what care they need and the support networks they rely upon. We can only solve our problems by working with our partners to understand and fix the issues Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly face, and today finally gives us the power to do that.”

Kate Shields, ICB chief executive officer

During the coming year, 2022 to 2023, the ICS has developed 6 system priorities to:

1. Get people home from hospital.
2. Reduce ambulance delays.
3. trying to clear the backlog of elective care appointments.
4. Creating a sustainable workforce across health and care services.
5. Expanding support for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities, and autism.
6. Increasing dementia diagnosis rates and improving support for people, their families and carers once a diagnosis is made.
7. Reducing health inequality.

Cornwall’s army of unsung volunteers will also play a crucial role in shaping the way services are provided in the future to ensure people receive help when they need it, and helping to address the wider societal issues and inequalities that impact on their health and wellbeing such as job security, housing, employment, and access to food.

“Having good health isn’t just about having good health services. It is fundamentally shaped by the way we lead our lives, and how we look after our own health and that of our friends, family, neighbours and communities. I’m excited by the opportunities our new ICS can deliver, and how health services can work together with housing, social care, education, and leisure services to ensure that everyone can start well, live well, and age well.”

Kate Kennally, chief executive of Cornwall Council