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A former health secretary told NHS leaders yesterday to “get stuck in” to their local integrated care system.

Anyone “who might be hesitating about whether or not to really commit” should “put aside all of those doubts”, Patricia Hewitt said to the NHS ConfedExpo conference.

Ms Hewitt, Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board chair and former health secretary, was speaking the day after government responded to her recent review of ICSs.

The Department of Health and Social Care rejected or ducked several of its most eye-catching recommendations, but did state its support for ICSs and system working; while Labour has also said it would maintain ICSs should it come to power.

Ms Hewitt said the government response was more positive than she had feared at some points, and it “would have been a complete miracle” if ministers had backed all her recommendations.

She added: “What’s really clear is we’ve got the cross-party support for ICSs that I referenced in the review. We’ve [also] got the legislation, we are here to stay.”

Mersey Care Foundation Trust chief executive Joe Rafferty, who led work on population health and data for the Hewitt review, and took part in the same ConfedExpo discussion, echoed the sentiment.

He said: “One of the most frequently asked questions by colleagues is ‘do you think ICSs are here to stay?’

“Some people maybe thought ICSs would be transitional – maybe hoped they would be. [There are NHS leaders who] want to engage in new types of reforms and people who will wait and see, and people who at this stage are not convinced.”

Heading for outpatients

The chief executive of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals FT is leaving to join NHS England’s elective recovery team later in the summer.

Sam Higginson will be working on the national outpatient recovery programme, ahead of a national outpatient strategy expected this year.

Mr Higginson worked as director of strategic finance for NHSE between 2010 and 2013. He then took on roles at University College London Hospitals and Cambridge University Hospitals FTs before becoming CEO at NNUH in 2019.

NNUH, which had struggled with performance and quality challenges for a prolonged period, was in special measures when Mr Higginson joined. The new CEO oversaw its removal from the regulatory regime in April 2020.

The trust is still rated “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission and there is an acceptance it still has progress to make on performance, quality, culture and staff satisfaction. However, system leaders have recognised that the trust has made significant strides across key services and grasped the nettle on reconfiguring challenging areas – one of which is outpatients.

Also on hsj.co.uk today

In the latest Health Check podcast, we’re joined by Matthew Taylor, NHS Confederation chief, to discuss Amanda Pritchard’s speech and other developments at the ConfedExpo conference. And in The Ward Round, Emily Townsend says that more than a third of the 40 flagship staff mental health hubs launched to help a traumatised workforce through the pandemic and beyond have closed, or are under threat of closure.