Agenda item - Sussex Integrated Care System (ICS): Presentation

Presentation from Claudia Griffith, NHS Sussex Chief Delivery Officer, on the Sussex Integrated Care System (Sussex Integrated Health & Care Partnership) (verbal).

24.1    This item was introduced by Lisa Emery, NHS Sussex Chief Transformation, Innovation & Digital Officer. Ms Emery outlined to members the purpose and contents of the Sussex Integrated Care Strategy.

24.2    Cllr West thanked Ms Emery for her presentation, noting that it would be helpful to have a presentation on the Integrated Care System as a whole at a later date. Ms Emery responded that NHS Sussex would be happy to arrange something, potentially with a focus on place arrangements.

24.3    In response to a question from the Chair on plans to consult with HOSCs on service change, Ms Emery responded that NHS bodies will engage appropriately, either at a system or a place level. Lola Banjoko, NHS Sussex Managing Director, Brighton & Hove, added that no significant change plans are currently under consideration, but that there will be engagement with the HOSC should plans be developed.

24.4    Alan Boyd offered to share slides from a recent presentation to Healthwatch from the Chair of NHS Sussex on the development of the Sussex Integrated Care System. Mr Boyd also noted that a relatively low number of people had responded to a Sussex-wide consultation on the Integrated Care Strategy, and that it might be helpful for NHS Sussex to speak to Healthwatch about future engagement plans. Ms Emery responded that she was happy to explore this opportunity.

24.5    Michael Whitty asked a question about numbers of patients currently experiencing delays in their discharge from hospital. Rob Persey, BHCC Executive Director, Health & Adult Social Care, responded by saying that partners are working on this issue. However, the local market is very challenged, and it is difficult to find timely packages for everyone who needs them. It is hard to give a figure as this is constantly changing, but although the figure is higher than anyone would like it to be, there are not hundreds of people experiencing delays. The longest waits do tend to be for the most complex care packages.

24.6    In response to a question from the Chair about how the Integrated Care Strategy would be dealt with in terms of Council governance, Mr Persey told the committee that it will not be possible to consider the draft strategy at a Health & Wellbeing Board (HWB) meeting due to timings, although the HWB will look in detail at the agreed strategy at its March 2023 meeting. The Integrated Care System Member Working Group will consider the ICS and it may also be possible to report the strategy for information to the December 2022 Council meeting.

24.7    The Chair told members that the session had been helpful, but that she would seek a full presentation on the development of the Integrated Care System at the next HOSC meeting (25 January 2023). Mr Persey responded that partners would be happy to present. It is important to understand that this is a process of building partnerships over a number of years, rather than about what is happening at a single point in time. The Chair acknowledged this point, but said that the committee would nonetheless be interested in the processes being followed to develop this partnership working.