Integrated care system

An integrated care system is part of the National Health Service in England. There are 42. Most of them cover the area of a county. The number of people in each one goes from 500,000 to more than 3 million. 
This is an effort to join up different services. Many are setting up electronic health records which will cover all the health and social care organisations in their area. 
They were started in 2019. In 2022 they were given legal powers. This is the latest way of dividing the country into areas. They are managed by NHS England. 
Each one has an integrated care partnership which includes the local governments. It has an integrated care board. That has to plan and pay for most NHS services in the area. 
There is also an integrated care partnership with wider membership. They have to develop a health and care strategy for the area.
In October 2022 most of them were forecasting that they would not be able to balance their books.