Decision details

Proposed decision:

To give KCC’s approval for the Kent and Medway Interim Integrated Care Strategy as recommended by the Integrated Care Partnership.  In approving the Interim Strategy, KCC is committing to working with partners in the Kent and Medway Integrated Care System to deliver the objectives set out.

Further Information:

This will be the first Integrated Care Strategy to be produced since Integrated Care Systems came into existence in July 2022. Statutory guidance from the Department for Health and Social Care states that Integrated Care Strategies need to be published by the end of December 2022 to inform the first 5-year joint forward plans which Integrated Care Boards (NHS) are required to publish before the next financial year. The guidance recognises that 2022 to 2023 will be a transition period and that Integrated Care Partnerships will want to refresh and develop their Integrated Care Strategy as they grow and mature. Therefore, the Strategy published by the end of December will be an initial or interim version that will be developed later.  This later iteration will expand on the ambitions and commitments of the partners, including the County Council and, therefore, will be subject to a separate key decision through the normal governance process.

In its Council Strategy, Framing Kent’s Future, KCC has committed to seize the opportunity of integrating our planning, commissioning and decision making in adult, children, and public

health services through being a partner in the Kent and Medway Integrated Care System at place and system level. Through its statutory requirements and the commitments it has made, KCC is a key partner in the development and implementation of the Integrated Care Strategy.

The Integrated Care Partnership is required to produce the Kent and Medway Interim Integrated Care Strategy and this has  been managed by the three statutory partners of the Integrated Care Partnership- KCC, Medway Council and the  Integrated Care Board (NHS Kent and Medway).  A multiagency steering group and project group which includes the Director of Public Health and the Director of Strategy, Policy, Relationships and Corporate Assurance working closely in partnership with wider partners have developed the Interim Strategy . providing regular updates to the Integrated Care Partnership which is chaired by the Leader of KCC. Development of the Interim Strategy has followed the requirements set out in statutory guidance, including contents to be included and involvement of stakeholders. The Interim Strategy has been shaped by the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments for Kent and Medway. It has a strong emphasis on the wider determinants of health, recognising that a wide range of factors influence health and wellbeing besides health and care services. The Interim Strategy sets out the commitment to closer working and integration between health and care services and with other services that influence the wider determinants, many of which are provided by KCC as well as other partners in the public and voluntary and community sectors.

Given the limited time available for the development of the Interim Strategy, engagement with stakeholders has been focused on key partner organisations across the Kent and Medway Integrated Care System including at a symposium on 28^th October 2022 and presentations at Joint Kent Chiefs and Leaders meetings.

Cabinet;

-       approves the Kent and Medway Interim Integrated Care Strategy, subject to final recommendation by the Integrated Care Partnership; and

-       Delegates authority to the Director of Strategy, Policy, Relationships & Corporate Assurance to take relevant actions to implement this decision.