Welcome to the July Central East ICB stakeholder newsletter, providing an update on important developments in the area we serve – Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Milton Keynes.
As a new ICB, we remain fully focused on delivering of our strategy, Our Way, in which we have set out our priorities, how we will measure success, and how we will listen and respond to our residents and stakeholders. Several of the stories we share in this edition speak to the ambitions presented here: improving access, cutting the time spent waiting for care, and making our local health system more sustainable. We have now kicked off all nine of our priority programmes, and look forward to sharing with you a regular briefing about the progress these are making.
We would welcome any suggestions you may have for content you would like to see in future editions of this newsletter.
Jan Thomas, Chief Executive Officer
Sarah Stanley, Deputy Chief Executive Officer / Executive Clinical Director
Louis Kamfer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer / Executive Director of Strategy, Planning and Evaluation
Neighbourhood Health Centres submission
Neighbourhood Health Centres are part of a national programme to make it easier for people to access joined-up care and support close to where they live, helping people stay well. In response to a request from NHS England the ICB has submitted an initial list of 56 proposals for Neighbourhood Health Centres. We are grateful for the thoughtful feedback we received from a wide range of partners, including Members of Parliament, local authority leaders and officers, clinicians and other providers of health and care services in developing our proposals.
NHS England will now review all submissions and decide which proposals will receive national funding to enable them to progress. We look forward to receiving their feedback.
We will continue to keep patients, partners and the public updated as more information becomes available and plans develop and we are committed to involving local people and communities in shaping future proposals.
More information: Developing Neighbourhood Health Centres.
A visit from NHS England
On 15 July we received a visit from Dr Claire Fuller, NHS England’s Medical Director, and colleagues, who met ICB, provider, local authority, primary care and voluntary sector leaders from across Central East at Gemini House in Ely. They reviewed progress and discussed the future development of neighbourhood health, including neighbourhood governance, commissioning, integrated neighbourhood teams, frailty and shifting care closer to home.
The discussions highlighted strong partnership working and growing momentum across the system, with examples of improved primary care access, community-based care, discharge pathways and innovative approaches to investment and funding.
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Dr Fuller described Central East as a mature strategic commissioner with a clear vision and strong delivery approach, while identifying further opportunities to better manage variation in primary care, improve the primary and secondary care interface, and expand outpatient transformation.
More information: LinkedIn: It was a pleasure to welcome Dr Claire Fuller…
ICB hosts frailty conference
The ICB held a conference on frailty at Cranfield University last week, with partners sharing knowledge, data and insights to progress our thinking around how we can best support people with frailty.
Throughout the day we heard from a wide range of partners including those from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, NHS providers, fire services and local authorities, alongside a keynote speech from Matthew Winn, Chief Executive of the East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust, who has been developing a national frailty framework proposal.
The day was characterised by curiosity from attendees, and a commitment from all to collaborate further to develop a new specification for the delivery of an all-age frailty pathway.
More information: LinkedIn: We held our first ever frailty conference…
Jan Thomas seconded to major national role
Jan Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, recently shared the news that she would be taking on a one-year secondment with NHS England as Executive Director of System Development. This national role will include a focus on transforming commissioning and guiding the future development of ICBs. It is an opportunity to put the work taking place in Central East at the heart of national debates about the future of strategic commissioning, and to shape the next phase of our NHS.
Jan Thomas said: “I thought carefully about before accepting this offer, but I reassure you of my continued commitment to our ICB, our staff and the communities we serve. This is a secondment for one year, and I will remain as Chief Executive of Central East throughout this period.”
Day-to-day leadership of the ICB will be shared by Sarah Stanley, our Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Clinical Director, and Louis Kamfer, our Executive Director of Strategy, Planning & Evaluation who will also become Deputy Chief Executive. They will of course be supported by the wider management team and staff.
More information: Central East ICB Chief Executive takes on National NHS England secondment.
Mount Vernon Cancer Centre consultation
From January to March, NHS England, supported by Central East ICB, conducted a public consultation on the future of cancer services provided by Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC). Residents and representatives from Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Luton, were invited to feed back on plans to relocate Mount Vernon Cancer Centre to Watford General Hospital from its current base in Northwood, with satellite radiotherapy provision at either Watford, Stevenage or Luton. Over 3,000 people responded directly to the proposals and hundreds more attended one of the roadshows which supported the review.
Clinicians, including those who refer patients for cancer treatment, strongly supported the relocation proposal, but the general public’s view was more balanced.
More information: Mount Vernon Cancer Centre public consultation report.
Lung Cancer Screening
New figures show that over 700 people in the East of England have received an earlier lung cancer diagnosis through the Lung Cancer Screening programme since it began in 2019. Mobile scanning units visit venues close to where people live, including sites in Luton, Peterborough, Huntingdon, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Stevenage and Cambridge.
More information: Screening programme identifies 700 lung cancers earlier in the East of England
ICB project shortlisted for two national awards
An ICB project to improve the management of hypertension (high blood pressure) in general practices in Bedford has been shortlisted in two categories at the HSJ’s Patient Safety Awards. The work has been named as a finalist in both the ‘Primary Care Safety Initiative of the Year’ and ‘Improving Safety and Outcomes for Minority Ethnic Communities’ categories.
Outcomes for patients with hypertension in parts of Bedford were among the worst in England, and those for people with Black African and Black Caribbean heritage were worse still than for the population as a whole. This meant that they were disproportionately affected by the consequences: late diagnoses, preventable strokes, avoidable hospital admissions and lives permanently changed.
More information: Bedfordshire hypertension project shortlisted for national awards.
Community Diagnostic Centre opens in St Albans
A new Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC) has opened at St Albans City Hospital. It is part of a £100m investment at the site, which will also include new operating theatres, endoscopy and urology units, helping to transform St Albans City Hospital into a centre of excellence for diagnostics and planned care.
The new CDC will provide patients with quicker, more convenient access to diagnostic services, including ultrasound, MRI and CT scans, reducing waiting times and easing pressure on busy acute hospital sites. Around 15,000 additional MRI and CT scans will be available each year.
Four new operating theatres at St Albans City Hospital is due to open in July for planned operations, to support an NHS commitment to reduce waiting times for elective care.
More information: New state-of-the-art community diagnostic centre will provide faster tests for thousands of patients.
Wixams Health Centre planning permission
Plans for a new GP surgery at Wixams have been officially submitted in another major step forward for the town’s health provision. The master developer behind Wixams, Urban&Civic, has submitted plans to Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council for the health centre, which it hopes will be open by 2029.
The development comes after the ICB announced £7m in capital funding earlier this year for the centre, which will serve 15,000 patients and help those in Wixams access GP services closer to home.
More information: Long-awaited plans for Wixams GP surgery revealed.
Dates for the diary
Next ICB board meeting: Friday 25 September (papers and future dates will be published here)
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