Surrey Heartlands is also the name given to our local partnership of health and care organisations which covers the majority of the county of Surrey. NHS Surrey Heartlands CCG is one of 10 organisations that make up the partnership, including Surrey County Council, along with local GP practices. The partnership also works closely with local community, voluntary and faith sector organisations and the borough and district councils.

All the organisations in the partnership are working together to improve services and health outcomes for local people as we know we can achieve more together than we can individually.

Importantly we are doing this in partnership with local people and staff.

Visit the Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care System website for more information.

Working in partnership

NHS organisations and local councils are starting to work more closely together to coordinate services around the needs of individuals. Working together means we can focus on keeping people well and living healthier lives, as well as making sure everyone gets the care and treatment they need, in the right place, at the right time.

This requires a new way of working, with health and care organisations collaborating rather than operating independently. For example, with health and social care staff working together in mixed teams, where they can put individuals at the centre of decisions about their care. This is explained in more detail in the NHS Long Term Plan which was published in January 2019. You can access the plan here.

All local partners across Surrey have signed up to the Surrey Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This over-arching strategy describes how partners will work together with local communities to improve health and wellbeing across the county. This includes health and care organisations as well as other public sector partners such as education and the Police.

Importantly, NHS Surrey Heartlands CCG is part of the wider Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership which brings together all the local health and care organisations, including Surrey Council, who work together to improve local services and health outcomes.

• Integrated Care Partnerships
• Primary Care Networks
• Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care System

Integrated Care Partnerships (known as ICPs) are groups of local health and care organisations, also including borough councils and voluntary/community sector members, working across populations of around 250 – 300,000 people.  Each partnership is developing its own priorities, reflecting the different needs of each local population, and thinking about how they will work differently in the future. 

Common themes are emerging, for example there is more emphasis on wellbeing and prevention and on breaking down the barriers between organisations.

Across Surrey Heartlands we have four Integrated Care Partnerships:

• North West Surrey
• Guildford and Waverley
• Surrey Downs
• Crawley, East Surrey and Horsham (CRESH)

These local partnerships are responsible for the planning and delivery of services at local level; each ICP has its own Board with representation from local partners and sets its own local priorities.

Governance

ICPs are not statutory organisations and therefore final accountability for decision-making rests with the CCG’s Governing Body. This is done through a delegated local committee for each ICP. Each committee consists of two locally elected Governing Body GPs, the ICP Director and a Lay member, who sit on the local ICP board with delegated authority from the Governing Body to make commissioning decisions. This ensures each ICP is able to reflect the priorities and needs of its local area.

Engagement

Thank you to everyone who took part in the above workshop at the beginning of March 2020. A lot has happened since then and our thoughts are with all those impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. We wanted to make sure that we reported back on your contributions to this event. The Guildford and Waverley ICP Board has reviewed the feedback and is keen to move forward with establishing a Citizen Reference Group, to support its commitment to involve citizens and patients in imaginative and innovative ways with the ICP and its programmes.

  pdf 22 June 2020 - Feedback from ‘Shaping Patient & Citizen Engagement in Guildford and Waverley ICP’ (189 KB)

If you have any questions about next steps for the ICP, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (further contact details are in the report).