Health and care partnerships (previously called Integrated care partnerships or ICPs) bring together all provider health organisations in a given area to work as one.
Each organisation within a partnership retains its own budget but will agree, with other partners, how it is spent for the benefit of the local community.
Partnerships can design and deliver services to meet the needs of everyone they serve based on their local population. They can focus services on areas of greatest need, helping to reduce health inequalities and improve life expectancy.
HCPs are supporting healthcare providers to work more closely with local councils – not just with social care and public health colleagues, but also education, planning, housing, environmental health and leisure services.
There are four health and care partnerships in Kent and Medway:
The organisations that are part of this partnership agreement are:
- Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
- Dartford Borough Council
- Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley primary care networks
- Gravesham Borough Council
- Healthwatch Kent
- Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
- Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Kent County Council
- South East Coast Ambulance Service
- Sevenoaks District Council
- HCRC Care Group (formerly Virgin Care)
The organisations that are part of this partnership agreement are:
- East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT)
- Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Healthwatch Kent
- Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
- Kent County Council
- Ashford Borough Council
- Canterbury City Council
- Dover District Council
- Folkestone and Hythe District Council
- Thanet District Council
- Kent Local Medical Committee
- East Kent primary care networks
- South East Coast Ambulance Service
- IC24
- East Kent GP Confederation
- East Kent VCSE Alliance
The organisations that are part of this partnership agreement are:
- Healthwatch Kent
- Healthwatch Medway
- Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
- Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Kent County Council
- Kent Local Medical Committee
- Medway and Swale primary care networks
- Medway Community Healthcare
- Medway Council
- Medway NHS Foundation Trust
- Medway Voluntary Action
- South East Coast Ambulance Service
- Swale Borough Council
- Swale Community and Voluntary Services
- HCRC Care Group (formerly Virgin Care)
The organisations that are part of this partnership agreement are:
- Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW)
- Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT)
- West Kent primary care
- West Kent primary care networks
- Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT)
- Kent County Council (KCC)
- West Kent district councils: Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells
- Voluntary and community sector partners - Healthwatch Kent, Involve Kent and the Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) Chairs Group
- North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT)
- NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (KMICB)
The place of HCPs in the system
Some planning and service design is done once across all of Kent and Medway for the whole population of 1.9million people. The clinical commissioning group leads this work - replaced by the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board from 1 July 2022.
In 2019, primary care networks were established to group practices together to strengthen GP services and other primary care providers in your local area. Most PCNs serve a population of around 30-50,000.
Our health and care partnerships sit between these two levels, bringing together the providers of health and care services, along with other key local partners to work together to plan and deliver care. Our HCPs cover populations of 260-700,000.