13. Childrens Ward - staff with patient.jpgCheshire East Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) is an alliance of NHS providers of health and care services who work together to deliver care by agreeing to collaborate rather than compete. These providers include hospitals, community services, mental health services and GPs, as well as social care.

By working together in this joined-up way, we will be able to help local people receive the health and care that is sensitive to their needs, as close to home as possible.

Our approach will be to work through the eight care communities in Cheshire East. The eight are coterminous with the nine Primary Care Networks, with the exception of Crewe, which includes two PCNs.

The ICP is overseen by a board of partner organisations and hosted by Mid Cheshire Hospitals Foundation Trust. The ICP is not a separate organisation, so there is no HQ, no buildings and no full-time staff, it is run as a partnership. The Board is chaired by Sheena Chumiskey, Chief Executive of Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust. Partner members are:

  • Dr Paddy Kearns (Vice Chair) Vernova Healthcare CIC
  • Dr Dave Holden (Director of Transformation) South Cheshire and Vale Royal GP Alliance
  • Linda Couchman, Cheshire East Council
  • Mark Palethorpe, Cheshire East Council
  • Dr Neil Paul, South Cheshire and Vale Royal GP Alliance
  • Justin Johnson, Vernova Healthcare CIC
  • Anushta Sivananathan, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership
  • Chris Hart, Cheshire East Social Action Partnership
  • James Sumner, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • John Wilbraham, East Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Denise Frodsham, ICP Director

The area covered by the ICP is co-terminus with Cheshire East Council, serving a population of nearly 400,000 people.

Care communities are a virtual team of health and care professionals who work together in and near people’s homes in partnership with the Primary Care Networks of general practices. They cover populations of 30-50,000 people, though the focus is very much on ensuring care is wrapped around the individual.

Staff are based within their own organisations, though working as a team to support patients. Each has a clinical leader and support from a manager. Some of the care communities have existed longer than others, with each covering its own unique population, which have different demographics and needs. An early priority for the ICP is to develop the four themes highlighted by the Transformation Plan.

The care communities are: 

The ICP covers two historically different healthcare systems divided by the M6 motorway. People from the east tend use Macclesfield Hospital and the community services provided there, with those further south using Leighton Hospital and its community services. Social care has also been delivered from east and south bases.

As we look to develop the ICP and care communities to deliver equitable services across Cheshire East, we have highlighted four care themes where we are outliers and could therefore improve services. These are:

  • Mental wellbeing and social prescribing
  • Children’s health
  • Cardiovascular health
  • Respiratory health

The learning from these target areas will help us develop the ICP and shape who we do things in the future.

Development of the care communities will also include support with:

  • Business intelligence
  • Project management
  • Workforce and organisation development
  • IT
  • Finance
  • Estates

Here are examples of how our care communities are working together to support local people:

  • Care homes
  • Falls
  • Dementia
  • Rehabilitation beds
  • Single Point of Access
  • Virtual tissue viability training
  • Virtual Macmillan