About our Integrated Care System (ICS)

We are a partnership of organisations in Hertfordshire and West Essex that work together to improve health. We are one of 42 ICSs in England and we came into being as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2022.

Our partnership is made up of NHS organisations, councils and the voluntary sector. This is because we know that health organisations on their own can’t improve health and that working together is the best way to provide good services.

Here in Hertfordshire and west Essex, our priorities are to:

  1. Give every child the best start in life
    We will ensure that children in Hertfordshire and west Essex have the best opportunity to be safe and well and to reach their potential at school and beyond.
  2. Support our communities and places to be healthy and sustainable
    We will work with people in Hertfordshire and west Essex to help make their communities safe and healthy places to live, reducing the gap in health and life expectancy between our healthiest and least healthy residents
  3. Support our residents to maintain healthy lifestyles
    We will support people in west Essex and Hertfordshire to be physically active, eat healthily, maintain a healthy weight and provide support and advice to prevent tobacco, alcohol and substance misuse.
  4. Enable our residents to age well and support people living with dementia.
    We will ensure that residents in west Essex and Hertfordshire can age healthily and get advice and support to help them live well and independently for as long as possible.
  5. Improve support to people living with life-long conditions, long term health conditions, physical disabilities, and their families
    We will support people living with lifelong conditions, long term health conditions, physical disabilities and their families assisting them to take more control of their health and live a good quality of life.
  6. Improve our residents’ mental health and outcomes for those with learning disabilities and autism
    We will provide early help to our residents to prevent mental illness and support the health and wellbeing of those with a Severe Mental Illness (SMI), learning disabilities or autism.

Groups of colleagues from all partners are working on these priorities to deliver real change for local people. See more on our Integrated Care Strategy.

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