North West London ICS has set out the strategic approach for its integrated neighbourhood teams (INTs), with a “no wrong front door” approach undertaken which will see all services accessible digitally, via telephone or in person.
The ICS notes that residents have expressed desire for a “single, recognisable NHS and social care entity that they contact for everything”; as such, INTs are to create this single public-facing entity and operate one wider team. For the system, this necessitates “much better information sharing” and use of digital systems.
The expectation from the ICS is that all providers will place the development and support of INTs at the core of their own strategies, with North West London noting the “crucial” enablers that will support effective integrated working, including data, technology and digital enablers such as the shared care record.
Each INT is to work through four phases of development, starting with foundations and integrated practice before moving onto population health management with supporting infrastructure, integrated and intelligence-led practice, and finally full delegation for neighbourhood delivery of core offers.
The second phase here should see population health management established and embedded, with “deep” understanding of the community through data analysis, and interoperable IT systems in place to enable joint care; North West London aims to achieve this by March 2026. The third stage will see integrated care pathways in place and models of delivery designed to meet neighbourhood need, based on understanding of data and to be delivered by March 2027.
Also from the region
We recently shared how North West London Acute Provider Collaborative, made up of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare, London North West University Healthcare and The Hillingdon Hospitals, have appointed a single chief information officer to work across the four trusts.
The collaborative also shared its strategy in the summer, covering 2024-2027 and outlining plans around EPR, patient empowerment plans, planned enhancements for staff in terms of digital tools and work around data.
From North West London ICS, we examined a summary of data on the system’s work around digital reach and health survey responses.
Neighbourhood working
Last month, HTN noted how NHS England South West region shared plans for its digital neighbourhoods programme, aimed at enhancing patient and staff experience by “empowering integrated neighbourhood teams with the best use of digital technology and data”, enabling proactive care and preventing unplanned healthcare events.
And in community-related news, we hosted a panel on self-management and the future model of community care in the summer – catch up here. We also previously highlighted NHS England’s Community Health Services Data Plan, which shares the aim to create a single source of truth for community health services.
