Integrated Care Systems Established 1st July 2022

NHS Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) have been legally established on 1st July! This sees the end of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) which have managed local health services since the last set of legal reforms. ICSs are intended to bring about major changes in how health and care services are planned, paid for and delivered, and are a key part of the future direction for the NHS as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. It is hoped that they will be a vehicle for achieving greater integration of health and care services; improving population health and reducing inequalities; supporting productivity and sustainability of services; and helping the NHS to support social and economic development.

ICSs represent an opportunity for Optometry Practices, Local Optical Committees (with LOCSU support) and Primary Eyecare Services (PES) to scale up our current and new extended services for the benefit of patients and the NHS.

What does this mean for Optometry Practices and Extended Eye Care?

We are glad to confirm that all PES contracts for extended services that were in place yesterday have transitioned to the local NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) – ensuring current service provision can continue without disruption.

Currently services will remain at the geographical area that they have been commissioned and delivered to date; we are working with commissioners and other stakeholders to look to take advantage of the new arrangements to achieve even greater consistency across regions and scale up services to ICS level where agreed.

So, NO immediate changes for you!

We have also been working with the systems to ensure that invoicing and financial process should transition smoothly through this process to avoid delays in payment flows. All new organisational names and financial codes have been implemented and this should minimise any potential delays.
We have been advised by some NHS systems that they expect the sign off process for invoices in July’s first round, may be very slightly delayed between 1-2 weeks beyond the usual timescales, but they expect to be back to usual timescales thereafter. PES will be actively monitoring this and keeping practices updated locally if there are any unexpected delays.

PES will keep practices updated to any changes to services in your area as the coming year sees developments.