Agenda item

14.1     Ashley Scarff delivered an update from NHS Sussex regarding national and county-wide changes to the NHS, including some service changes. This included the following updates:

• The publication of the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan, which had three main strands which were well aligned with the strategic direction of NHS Sussex and the Sussex health and care system as set out in its five year strategy, ‘Improving Lives Together’.
• The ICB had set out its commissioning intentions for year 1 (2026/27) of the 10-year Health Plan.
• The ICB were working on developing neighbourhood health services for East Sussex and the wider area, they planned to use ICTs to deliver integrated community health services together with social care, and incorporate broader health determinants like employment and education in planning to meet population health and care needs.
• The National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme has allocated East Sussex with a focus on Hastings and Rother as one of its 44 pilot areas.
• It has been confirmed that NHS Sussex will be combining with NHS Surrey Heartlands to form a single ICB from April 2026, driven by the national requirement for ICBs to reduce their non-clinical costs by 50%.
• The procurement process was underway for a new community audiology provider. They were planned to be in place by January 2026 and the go-live for the new end-to-end pathway would be April 2026.
• Births have been suspended at Crowborough Birth Centre by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. All antenatal and post-natal services continue to operate from the centre. The ICB is working with the Trust to understand service issues and plans.

14.2     The Committee asked when changes to posts within the ICB would be known.

14.3     Ashley Scarff answered that the ICB would continue to operate as two organisations, until 1 April 2026, and that any changes to officers would be announced as soon as possible. Ian Smith had been appointed as the Chair of the ICB, and chief officer announcements were due in the coming months, but so far there had been delays nationally to ICB changes. 

14.4     The Committee asked how the 10-year plan and neighbourhood health teams would deliver improved access to services in deprived areas of the county.

14.5     Ashley Scarff responded that local delivery of health through ICTs is clearly set out in the 10-year plan; it was expected that the plan would amplify services at the community level. He explained that the learning opportunities from the new neighbourhood teams in Hastings and Rother would support future teams to deliver better health outcomes, particularly around health inequalities. The system hoped that these teams would highlight issues experienced by residents across the county, and could be used for wider mobilisation of neighbourhood healthcare.

14.6     The Committee asked how the ICB were involving system partners, including the VCSE sector, in changes to the system at appropriate governance levels to ensure coherence.

14.7     Ashley Scarff affirmed that the ICB recognises and values the VCSE sector for their support, and that in comparison to some other areas of the country, NHS Sussex is embedding partner engagement into their processes. However, the ICB were always conscious of creating a governance burden to system partners, so have been investigating more alliances and collaborative ways of working (like ICT leadership groups, provider alliances, community teams) to facilitate discussion.

14.8     The Committee enquired about how well other hospitals were prepared to manage additional demand, following the closure of Crowborough Birthing Centre.

14.9     Ashley Scarff responded that the centre is part of a broader network of maternity services, which is well prepared to resource additional births, as the number of births at Crowborough Birth Centre were relatively low. The scheduled births were being rescheduled to other centres, and the ICB were working with trusts and provider partners to do this.

14.10   The Committee noted that ICTs have been built on the footprints of district and borough councils and asked what would happen to these after local government reorganisation.

14.11   Ashley Scarff responded that once more information was known about local government reorganisation, the ICB will consider the impact of that on the footprint of the ICTs, noting that PCNs did not have the same boundaries as the ICTs, but that this was not currently being reconsidered.

14.12   The Committee RESOLVED to:

1)    note the verbal update from NHS Sussex; and

2)    consider whether it would like to receive further updates or reports on any of the issues raised under this item.