About the Health and Wellbeing Board

West Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Board is a formal committee of West Northamptonshire Council, consisting of senior leaders and stakeholders from across West Northamptonshire who provide a strategic lead for the health, care and wellbeing system.

The overall purpose of the Board is to secure:

• better health and wellbeing outcomes for the local population
• better quality of care for all patients and care users
• better value for the taxpayer
• a reduction in the health and wellbeing outcomes gap (inequalities) between different groups

The Board should work with local people to identify health and wellbeing needs of the population, agree priorities, and ensure that the NHS, local government and partners work together in a more joined-up way.

The Board drives a more joined-up approach to the commissioning and delivering of health and social care services, and services that provide the building blocks for health (such as housing, leisure, planning).

It also provides a key forum to increase democratic legitimacy in the shaping of health and care services through its elected members.

Meetings

Meetings of the West Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Board are open to the public.

Find Health and Wellbeing Board meetings on Moderngov.

The Health and Wellbeing Board as part of the Integrated Care System

Health and wellbeing boards were established under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to provide a forum for partners to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of their local populations.

The Health and Care Act 2022 has since introduced additional structures with new duties and powers to join-up services that the Health and Wellbeing Boards sit within.

System level

These new structures are part of a countywide Integrated Care System.

Our integrated care system is called Integrated Care Northamptonshire and it operates under the combined leadership of two statutory (legally required) bodies:

1. NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board (NICB) - responsible for local NHS services, functions, performance and budgets and replaces the old NHS Northamptonshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
2. Northamptonshire Integrated Care Partnership (NICP) - a statutory committee made up of local health services, local government, the voluntary and community sector, as well as other public sector partners

Place level

While the ICP has a role in joining up services at a whole county level, Health and Wellbeing Boards retain responsibility for identifying and addressing needs at ‘Place’ level (‘Place’ is a term used for a geographical area that is aligned with our unitary council boundary).

Locality and neighbourhood level

Even within our ‘place’ of West Northamptonshire there will be a wide range of different communities and neighbourhoods with varying needs.

Health and Wellbeing Forum and Local Area Partnerships will allow us to understand needs and priorities at a much more local level. This means we will be able to tailor plans towards those different needs.

Last updated 16 October 2023