Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help integrated care systems to harmonise their procedures.

The Department is not taking steps to directly influence how integrated care systems (ICSs) manage their internal procedures. Instead, we recognise that ICSs require the right level of autonomy to develop strong relationships and common culture which will progress healthcare planning and delivery in their communities.

The structures put in place by the Health and Care Act 2022 help ICSs make these changes more easily. For example, the common duty across ICSs and NHS Providers to have regard to wider effect of decisions (the ‘Triple Aim’) intends to further support the shift towards integrated local health and care systems which have strong engagement with their communities.