WHAT IS THE REGION’S INTEGRATED CARE SYSTEM?

INTEGRATED care systems (ICSs) are partnerships that bring together NHS organisations, local authorities and others to plan services, improve health and reduce inequalities.

In Greater Manchester, the ICS provides health and care for a diverse population of approximately 3.1m people across 10 localities and 66 neighbourhoods, according to NHS England.

The ICSs are legally bound to plan and fund most NHS services in the areas they control – including

NHS workforce planning. The systems are also required to bring together a broad range of organisations which have an influence on people’s health including councils, voluntary groups, charities, and a host of NHS staff - to create a strategy to tackle public health and social care in each area.

By bringing all of the resources, planning and delivery under one system, the ICSs are intended to improve and join up health and social care. They became operational in July 2022 under the Health and Care Act, with a specific aim of ‘enhancing productivity and value for money’, according to the King’s Fund - an independent health charity.

The first three months of this last year spelled freefall for the Greater Manchester Integrated Care System – the body responsible for buying, planning and completing most of the region’s health and care services, including those provided by the NHS. The system expected to have a deficit of £20m by July 2023, a year on from the establishment of the mammoth organisation.

That deficit grew to £86.5m by August 2023, but by the sixth month of the financial year, the deficit stood at £186.5m in debt. Weeks away from the end of the financial year, Greater Manchester NHS reported a deficit of £179.9m, as it struggled to keep the debt under the £180m figure – a ceiling set by NHS England.

NHS Greater Manchester did not wish to add a comment.