Revealed: The integrated care partnerships with no public meetings or minutes

ICSs were created in law last July, and government said their ICP committees would “be transparent and accountable to the local community, by meeting in public, with minutes and papers available online”.

ICPs’ role is to “bring together a broad alliance of partners concerned with improving the care, health and wellbeing of the population”, and set an integrated care strategy for the area.

HSJ has reviewed how many public ICP meetings have been held so far or are due to be held by July, and how many ICPs have published their papers and minutes. We found:

• Nine ICSs have no published ICP committee minutes or papers;
• Six ICSs had held no public ICP meetings and have none planned by July;
• Five ICSs have held or will have held just one or two public ICP meetings by July; and
• At the other end of the spectrum, eight systems have held five or more, including Suffolk and North East Essex, which has eight ICP meetings already held or scheduled in the 12 months to July.

Two of the 42 ICSs did not respond to HSJ’s query.

There are no rules for how many meetings should be held, but Department of Health and Social Care guidance says they “should take an open and inclusive approach” with a “collective model of accountability, where partners hold each other mutually accountable, including to local residents”.

It adds: “ICPs should be open and engaging, agreeing arrangements for transparency and local accountability, including meeting in public, with meaningful minutes and papers being made easily accessible.”

All systems have held at least six public meetings of their NHS integrated care board, which hold legal NHS responsibilities for each area. 

Several of the systems which held no or few public ICP meetings told HSJ  they had held private meetings and/or smaller discussions with specific partners.

Black Country ICS has held no public ICP meetings but said it had hosted “development sessions including partners from our four local authorities, fire, police, education, Healthwatch and housing, as well as community groups”, and is considering holding public ICP meetings in future. 

Devon ICS said it had held eight “full” ICP meetings, which were in private, but was considering holding them in public in future.

Northamptonshire ICS said it had held one meeting in private and was planning a meeting in June, but had not decided whether this would be public. It added: “Our two health and wellbeing boards representing our county’s two places meet regularly through the year in public and both the ICB chair and chief executive attend regularly.

“In addition, we have six community wellbeing forums playing a pivotal role in informing and shaping the strategic priorities for the partnership.”

The largest ICS – the North East and North Cumbria – has held eight “area ICP meetings” but only two full public meetings, which a spokesperson said was due to its size.

Frimley ICS said it had held “ICP Assembly meetings [which] have been large, interactive, sessions which have been focused on developing our ICS strategy, the outputs of which have been tested with hundreds of stakeholders outside of the meetings.

“As the ICP continues to develop its operating model, we will continue to ensure that the voice of residents is well represented through this assembly format.”

A Local Government Association spokesperson said: “Each ICP will take a different approach to their engagement with their communities, as needs will differ in each area.

“It is appropriate at this stage of their development that some will put their efforts into producing and publishing draft or interim integrated care strategies, through informal engagement with communities and stakeholders rather than formal meetings.”

HSJ reported in February that 35 ICSs had issued draft “integrated care strategies”, while seven had not, despite government recommending a deadline of December. The strategies are meant to be agreed by their ICPs. ICBs are due to publish their first five-year plans – which are part of NHS England’s planning process – next month.

Number of ICP meetings per ICS, sorted by ICP meetings in public