A "fundamental rethink" of how health and care services look after people with complex illness will be needed to solve issues such as ambulance handover delays and the difficulties hospitals have discharging patients.
That's according to the new chief executive of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) Samantha Allen - who told ChronicleLive about the ICS's drive to take "high impact steps" to tackle these issues in its first 100 days of officially existing.
The ICS - and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) which controls the NHS purse strings in the region - came into being on July 1 this year, replacing clinical commissioning groups across the region and theoretically heralding increased collaboration both across the region and between the health and social care sectors.
