North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System welcomes new blueprint for NHS and social care reform

North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System has today welcomed a new blueprint for NHS and social care reform.

Welcoming today’s White Paper ‘Integration and Innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all’, chair Professor Sir Liam Donaldson and executive lead Alan Foster for the North East and North Cumbria ICS, said:

“We have a strong history of working together across the North East and North Cumbria. It’s this collaborative approach, and the unwavering support of our front-line teams, which has enabled us to deal with so many aspects of the pandemic, and will continue to do so as we move to recovery.

“Today’s White Paper is welcome. It will support us to evolve this collaborative way of working on a more formal footing, so that we can drive forward our ambitions to provide the very best joined-up care for our communities – helping them to live healthier and healthier lives, and reduce the inequalities that exist.

“We can only deliver this ambition by working in partnership across NHS, local authorities, voluntary sector and by taking collective responsibility at a local level for planning and delivering care, managing resources, and improving the health and well-being of our population.

“As we move forward, our priority will continue to be to look after our staff. It’s been an unrelenting and challenging time for them, so it will be vital we minimise uncertainty and support them through our recovery and the next phase in our journey to work together across the North East and North Cumbria.”