NHS West and North London launches today
We're very pleased to announce that the new West and North London Integrated Care Board - which will be known as NHS West and North London - has formally launched, bringing together NHS planning and decision-making across West and North London into a single organisation.
From today, the new organisation, which will be the largest in England, will serve a population of around 4.5 million people across 13 boroughs, working in partnership with NHS providers, local authorities, GPs, voluntary and community organisations, and local residents.
Our new ICB will be responsible for around £12 billion of NHS investment each year.
In common with other ICBs across the country, we will evolve into an organisation led by more strategic and long-term decision making, and we will take responsibility for investing strategically to improve the prospects and health of residents – particularly those who currently experience the poorest health.
Our chair, Mike Bell, said: This is an important moment for health and care across west and north London. From today, we formally bring together two established organisations into one which will serve around 4.5 million people across 13 boroughs, alongside our partners in local government, the voluntary sector and the other parts of the NHS.
I am particularly delighted to welcome our new Board members today. The composition and expertise within this group is something I am excited about, and I know they will provide fantastic perspectives to help us take our next steps.”
While today marks a significant milestone, it is not a point of completion. The new ICB is standing up in a context of national reform and significant cost reduction. We did not choose the scale or pace of change required, but we have taken responsibility for responding in a way that protects our ability to lead, partner and deliver.
He added: We are being presented with an opportunity to think differently about how we improve the health and wellbeing of our populations.
That’s not just today, but for many years to come. It’s a real challenge, but one we must rise to, and I believe we can.
Our Interim Chief Executive Officer, Katie Fisher, said: I am very proud of the efforts of all our colleagues who’ve worked so hard to get us to this point. It’s a huge achievement.
Despite the challenges we face, there are real opportunities for us to do things differently in the future.
So much of the money we spend on services today is for acute care – services where people are already very unwell – in hospitals, or crisis services. While this approach has helped manage short-term pressures, it’s not delivering fair outcomes, and it’s unsustainable.
She added: We are committed to working with partners to really understand our populations’ needs, shape services which work for them, and in so doing, tackle the significant inequalities which we know exist – particularly around the number of healthy years people can expect to live.
The creation of the new ICB follows months of detailed and complex work by colleagues across both organisations. This has included large scale consultation and engagement, voluntary redundancy schemes and appeals, the introduction of new and interim structures, and the delivery of new governance, finance, digital and operational systems.
