Embedding clinical leadership in integrated care systems

The NHS Confederation and NHS Clinical Commissioners write on behalf of their members supporting integrated care and a permissive approach, but highlighting the importance of including clinical leadership on NHS ICS boards:

• ICS NHS bodies will be accountable for key decisions and functions that will always by necessity require clinical skillsets.
• NHS England-Improvement said that it agreed with our members that clinical leadership is fundamental to the success of ICSs.
• The best practice clinical leadership models are those that have multiple layers of multidisciplinary clinicians and professionals within a distributed leadership model.