The meeting was hosted by the Chair, the Rt Hon Paul Burstow, Chief Executive Dr Jane Halpin, and Chief Finance Officer Jonathan Wilson – all of whom thanked ICB staff for their tremendous efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of our residents and make the best use of NHS resources.
It was the final AGM for the ICB and a timely opportunity to look back at the successes as an organisation, and as part of the wider integrated care system.
Dr Halpin reviewed the achievements of the ICB over the past financial year – highlighting improvements across the board. These ranged from successful targeted preventative measures to keep people well, improvements in primary and community settings for children and adults, better care for frail and elderly people, and improved performance in our acute settings. Headlines included:
- carrying out 179,000 blood pressure checks in neighbourhood settings, proactive lung screening to detect cancer when it is more easily treatable, prioritising annual health checks for adults with learning disabilities, and carrying out nearly 8,000 medication reviews in 12 months to reduce the risks from harmful side effects and addiction
- facilitating easier access to local healthcare for our patients including the success of the Pharmacy First project, the veteran-friendly GP practice scheme and increased use of the NHS App
- improving integrated community-based care for older people, resulting in a 62% reduction in monthly hospital admissions for people with frailty across Hertfordshire and west Essex
- providing improved hospital services, including faster referrals for consultations, improved waiting times at A&E and the launch of the Mental Health Urgent Care Centre in Stevenage.
Chief Finance Officer Jonathan Wilson recognised the huge efforts made by the ICB and colleagues across Hertfordshire and west Essex to successfully deliver services within the challenging financial boundaries to save money, rising inflation, industrial action and increasing demand.
Chair Paul Burstow took the opportunity to look ahead at the work currently underway to create three new larger ICBs across the East of England and thanked his Board colleagues, ICB staff and volunteers and partner organisations including the voluntary sector, for all of their hard work and support. Special thanks was given to Dr Halpin for her leadership of the ICB.
Those who joined were also given the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the session. If you were unable to join the briefing live, you can watch a recording and view the slides on the ICB website which bring together a range of achievements from across the past year.