On the 1st April, the new "Central East" ICB was launched, responsible for the health of 3.5 million people across Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Hertfordshire.
Under Chair, Robin Porter and CEO, Jan Thomas, the ICB has agreed a five year strategy to improve how the local population are served. The 'Our Way - Strategy to Delivery' outlines the ICB's principles and choices that will guide their work over the next five years. Last week, Richard joined a call for MPs with the new Chair and CEO. Speaking afterwards Richard Fuller MP commented:
An interesting first meeting for MPs with the new East of England Integrated Care Board. An energetic presentation by the new Chief Execiutive who outlined her strategy and talked about making the NHS “sustainable”. Yes, I wasn’t 100% sure what that means either, but she did seem determined to improve the efficiency of our local NHS. Amen to that: my constituents have suffered through chronically delayed new GP surgery spaces (e.g. Bromham, Biddenham, Great Barford, Biggleswade health hub), the nightmare of the 8am calls on hold to get a GP appointment and a general lack of attention to the growing needs for improved primary care facilities.
The expansion of the Integrated Care Board area to cover all of East Anglia, not just the more local Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes area, has its plusses and minuses. The big plus will be if this new leadership can show some muscle on behalf of residents in getting better performance from our NHS. The CEO outlined the key measures she and the Board have prioritised. I like the focus – much better than trying to do too many things all at once. I would, however, have preferred specific targets for each measure that the Board (and us) can hold her to account on, and she in turn can be stronger in her demands for better services as she commissions them from the NHS.
Not a bad start for the new setup – but they are just getting started. We need to see improvements coming through.
You can read the ICB's Our Way strategy document here.
