From April 2022 the way the NHS and social care is organised in north east London (NEL) is changing and we are working together as health and social care organisations to formalise our existing strong partnerships and our collective intent to continue to support our population to live healthier, happier lives. Read more here about this here.
As part of our preparation for this change, in October and November Marie Gabriel CBE, our NEL Integrated Care System (ICS) Chair designate, brought together over 70 partner representatives from across NEL to discuss how we can best work together as a health and social care system to benefit patients, service users and residents, and to identify priority areas to focus on together as partners.
During two ambitious and productive sessions, key partners from the NHS, local government, voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, and Healthwatch discussed what our shared ambition or purpose statement and collective areas of focus should be, and how we can make these meaningful for residents and the organisations that make up the local health and care system.
Marie Gabriel said: “I found it inspirational to have all the key partners from across north east London in the virtual room working together towards a single purpose – to improve the health of local residents and the health and social care services we deliver.
“All the partners made a collective commitment to hold each other to account to deliver on our purpose statement and priorities, and to work together to embed them throughout all the work we do. It is this strong partnership working that will ensure that we work with residents to make a meaningful difference to their lives.”
Purpose statement
Partners agreed the following purpose statement for the NEL ICS:
Key priorities
Four key priorities were identified as areas that all partners will commit to delivering together in partnership in addition to the many areas of work already underway:
Partners also discussed the detail behind each priority, such as what we need to ensure is in place to deliver each priority and what is required to do this. Read about this here.
Next steps
The next step is to identify how best to deliver on our priorities in a meaningful and effective way, working in partnership across NEL and ensuring they are embedded throughout our work.
To stay up to date, and find out about opportunities to get involved, sign up to our newsletter by emailing nelondon.nelcommunications@nhs.net or join our Citizens’ Panel.