Integrated care systems: how are they emerging in England?

Integrated care

Why we are doing this project

There is growing interest in developing integrated care systems (ICSs) as a way to integrate care and improve population health. NHS England has outlined ambitions for sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) to evolve into ICSs. Eight areas of England have been identified to lead their development.

But what is happening in the areas developing ICSs, and what can others learn from their experiences?

The aim of this work is to bring together information on how ICSs are developing in England; identify learning for local and national leaders; share examples of good practice; and highlight issues that need to be resolved to support their development.

What we are doing

The project involves three main components:

reviewing plans from areas developing integrated care systems
conducting interviews with leaders and other local stakeholders from these areas to explore how plans are being developed and implemented in practice
comparing approaches across the different areas to identify learning for others.

Key milestones

The final report was published in summer 2018.

Read the report: A year of integrated care systems: reviewing the journey so far

Contacts

Anna Charles

Senior Policy Adviser to the Chief Executive

Matthew Kershaw

Senior Fellow in Health Policy

Lillie Wenzel

Fellow in Health Policy

Related content

A year of integrated care systems: reviewing the journey so far

Integrated care systems represent a fundamental and far-reaching change in how the NHS works across different services and with external partners. This report is based on interviews with eight of the ‘first wave’ ICSs to understand how they are developing and to identify lessons for local systems and national policy-makers.

Integrated care systems in England: site profiles

This resource summarises key features of the current arrangements and plans in each of the eight integrated care systems studied for our report 'A year of integrated care systems: reviewing the journey so far'.

Making sense of integrated care systems, integrated care partnerships and accountable care organisations in the NHS in England

NHS England has recently changed the name of accountable care systems to integrated care systems. Our updated long read looks at work underway and makes sense of all the terminology.

Big questions on integrated care

Integrated care happens when NHS organisations work together to meet the needs of their local population. On this page we pull together some of our core content and recent commentary to help make sense of the developments in integrated care.

Integrated care systems (ICSs) Learning network

A learning network for anyone involved in developing an integrated care system (ICS) in their area.

A year of integrated care systems: reflections on progress and next steps

Integrated care and partnership working reading list

A selected list of references held by The King's Fund library.

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