Director roles advertised for England’s first ‘integrated care provider’

Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group is expected to award the ICP contract to Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Trust, following its merger with the Black Country Partnership Foundation Trust.

The majority of staff and services at Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Trust will be transferred to BCPFT, leaving only the services which are due to come under the ICP contract.

The trust will then be assigned as the “designate” ICP and awarded a 15-year contract later this year, worth up to £360m annually, to deliver community physical and mental health services, primary care, and some public health services.

An interim board for the ICP is in the process of being established, with several director-level jobs currently being advertised. The advert for the chief executive post is still being prepared, HSJ was told.

Meanwhile, NHS Improvement has advertised for non-executive directors.

The contract value will vary depending on how many GP practices in Dudley decide to fully integrate and transfer their contracts to the ICP, and the extent to which adult social care services are included. The latter will be “phased” into the contract over its lifetime, while current plans are for one GP practice to fully integrate at the beginning of the contract. 

This will be the first ICP contract to be awarded since NHS England published its contract model last year. The model represents a change from previous plans in which commissioners proposed to split the local acute provider the Dudley Group FT in two and use the new organisation as the host ICP.

ICP chair Harry Turner will be charged with appointing the new trust board members, once plans are approved by NHSE/I.

He said: “Dudley has been leading the way on the development of integrated care providers and I am now putting together the non-executive and executive team to complete the final stages of establishing our ICP.”

Dudley CCG chief executive Paul Maubach told HSJ: “We anticipate concluding the award of the ICP contract to the Dudley ICP later this year, once we have completed the final stages of the integrated support and assurance process with regulators. This new organisation presents a fantastic opportunity for our system to deliver truly integrated care which will deliver better outcomes on both a short and long term basis to our entire population.”