Bath & North East Somerset Council has set out proposed next steps for working with new collaborative health and care organisations.

Following the Health and Care Act 2022, a new, statutory, Integrated Care Board (ICB) was formed on July 1st with responsibility for providing £1.5 billion of health care services to the people of Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.

The Board - one of 42 established across England- will plan how health and care services are delivered across the area, and aims to improve population health outcomes, tackle inequalities and provide enhanced value for money, while also helping the NHS support broader social and economic development.

The new ICB will sit within a new Integrated Care System (ICS) for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire. Known as BSW Together, this will provide a wider network of local health and care organisations responsible for ensuring better integration between health and social care and addressing the wider determinants of health and wellbeing.

A local 'delivery mechanism' - operating as a 'place-based' subcommittee of the ICB and known as the Integrated Care Alliance (ICA) - will operate at a Bath & North East Somerset level.

A report on the new governance arrangements for health and social care going before Bath & North East Somerset's cabinet on July 14 recommends that the council nominate officers to sit on the ICB, alongside representatives from Swindon and Wiltshire. It also recommends that the council participate in both the ICS and the ICA.

Councillor Alison Born, cabinet member for Adult Services and Council House Building, said: "We already have a strong track record of working with local health services. These new arrangements provide an opportunity to work even more closely with our partners and our communities to provide the services that people need, further to integrate health and social care, and tackle health inequalities. They also provide greater opportunities to improve population health, so delaying the need people may have for services.

"I look forward to working closely with all our partners to maximise the benefits of the new arrangements for residents, and to make sure that our local needs and views here in Bath and North East Somerset are heard across the wider system."

The report going before cabinet and the agenda for the meeting can be viewed here

In the Census there were 196,000 patients registered with Bath and North East Somerset GPs