An announcement from NHS Sussex / East Sussex County Council

The 1 July 2022 is an important milestone for the NHS as this is when the way health and care is arranged in England is changing. How health and care works across Sussex is also changing, to help give local people what they need to live longer healthier lives.

We know that individuals and communities are not always getting the support, treatment and care they need at the time they need it in the most appropriate place. To address this, we need all organisations responsible for health and care to work closer together.

We are creating a new ‘Sussex Health and Care System’ that will help:

• Support people to live for longer in good health.
• Make sure our disadvantaged communities get the care they need.
• Improve people’s experience of using services.
• Better support health and care staff.
• Make best use of resources available.

The new way of working will involve health and care organisations coming together as the Health and Care Assembly, a new NHS organisation called NHS Sussex and new partnerships of health and care organisations working locally.

These changes alone will not tackle all the issues we face, but they will provide a way of working where people and organisations can work more closely together to provide better health and care for all now and in the future.

Explaining our Sussex Health and Care System

You will sometimes hear Sussex Health and Care described as an Integrated Care System (ICS) but locally we will call this our Sussex Health and Care System.

This system will be made up of three parts that will help health and care organisations work better together:

1. NHS Sussex is a newly created organisation. It will oversee the local NHS, support the different NHS partners within it and make decisions on how money is best spent for our populations. You will sometimes hear this described as an Integrated Care Board (ICB).
   
2. Representatives with an interest in health and care will meet regularly as the Health and Care Assembly. They will make sure the health and care needs of Sussex people are being met. You will sometimes hear this described as an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).
   
3. Across your local authority area, health and care organisations will work as a partnership to better support communities to stay healthy and get the most appropriate help, care and treatment they need. These will sometimes be described as ‘place-based partnerships’.

For full details see Health and Social Care News East Sussex