The NHS Health and Care Bill, if passed, will allow for the establishment of Integrated Care Boards (ICB) and Integrated Care Partnerships (ICS) across England. This will be done at the same time as abolishing Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs):

• The statutory commissioning organisation will be the Integrated Care Board (ICB); this was previously referred to as the ICS NHS body.
  
  
• The ICB will take on the NHS commissioning functions of CCGs together with some of NHS England’s commissioning functions. It will also be accountable for NHS spend and performance within the system. Most staff currently employed by CCGs will transfer to ICBs, and NHS England has made an employment commitment to staff to provide stability and minimise uncertainty.
  
  
• The Board of the ICB will, as a minimum, include a chair, the Chief Executive Officer and representatives from NHS providers, general practice and local authorities. NHS England will agree ICBs’ constitutions and will hold them to account for delivery.

Our ICB will cover Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB). As we prepare to transition to an ICB, an initial draft proposal for the strategy for engaging with people and communities has been published.

The ICB is keen to receive comments, feedback or suggestions on this strategy to help better shape it into a framework for working with its communities, patients and the public. The document is a working draft and you are invited to give feedback online or by emailing engagement.bobics@nhs.net by Wednesday 18 May; you can also give feedback by calling 0300 123 4465. If you require a print version of the strategy, or in another language or format such as Braille or audio, please also call 0300 123 4465.