Our Constitution sets out the ICB’s ambition for involving local people in its Governance arrangements

We are committed to involving patients, carers and their representatives in the planning of the commissioning arrangements of the ICB, including where proposals that could result in changes to how services are commissioned could impact on local people.

The ICB’s Constitution sets out our commitment to putting the voices of people and communities at the centre of decision-making and governance, at every level of the ICS. This includes using co-production, insight and engagement to achieve accountable health and care services and providing clear and accessible information to describe our vision and plans to develop and improve health and care services.

Click here to find out more about our work with Healthwatch and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, as our key involvement delivery partners.

Statutory Guidance

The ICB is a statutory body with statutory responsibilities. The NHS Act 2006 places a duty on NHS bodies to make arrangements to involve patients and the public in service planning and operation, and in the development of proposals for changes. The ICB must also consider equalities, as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

Involvement should be accessible and inclusive, carried out at organisational and community level, through patient experience and organisational engagement with stakeholders and the community, to support and inform and drive improvement as well as identifying concerns and issues early.

Involvement should be carried out where people live, with stakeholders and communities, to ensure a broader picture of how services are working, promote collaboration and co-production and service improvement. It should also take place at sub-regional Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) level to ensure and support the community voice in the shaping of priorities and service development.

Our involvement and engagement should always complement existing work around patient experience, community involvement and co-production.

Click here to find out more about our Governance arrangements, including our Communities and people involvement and engagement strategy.

Annual Report

The ICB is subject to an annual assessment of its performance by NHS England and is also required to publish a report containing a summary of the results of its assessment. Our Annual Report for 2022/2023 will be published here in due course. In addition to our annual report, we will also be producing an annual Involvement and Engagement report to demonstrate the different ways we have involved people and stakeholders.