Hi All,
It's frustrating - and outrageous - that it seems NHS England (NHSE) have decided to re-brand their ACOs (Accountable Care Organisations) as Integrated Care Systems (ICS). Just when we thought we knew about CCGs, STPs, ACOs and all the other acronyms that NHSE use to promote their so-called integrated care, we are now expected to believe that this re-brand will bring about
real integrated care across GPs, hospitals, public health, and social care just by including the term. As discussed on these message boards the Government have not consulted on this, they mean to bring ACOs/ICSs in by the back door. This will open up the NHS in England to take-over by the US-style - and owned - healthcare systems that they are based on.
We must campaign for real debate and legislation about this if we want to keep our NHS publicly owned by us. But we have hardly any time. As soon as an ACO/ICS contract is signed
that contract will last for 10 years.
The post below explains how urgent and important it is that Crowd Justice reaches its goal of £100,000 by 8 pm on 1 March. Here's the link to round 3 of the appeal with just 20 days to go:
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/jr4nhs-round3/Here's what Public Matters says:
'Now they are going to have to add a new acronym and re-do all their documents. According to the HSJ (Health Service Journal) on 2 February, “NHS England has rebranded accountable care systems as integrated care systems, and said they will replace sustainability and transformation partnerships. Planning guidance for 2018-19 from NHS England and NHS Improvement today said ICS will now be the “collective term” for the devolved health and care systems in Greater Manchester and Surrey Heartlands, as well as the eight shadow accountable care systems. It follows controversy about the term “accountable care”.'
You can read the full article here:
http://publicmatters.org.uk/health/rebranded-integrated-care-organisations-and-systems/Please connect with Health Campaigns Together
https://www.healthcampaignstogether.com and please circulate this post far and wide.
All the best,
Roy