Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with providers of community equipment services on service delivery in the context of integrated care in the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.

On 30 January 2025, NHS England published guidance on Standardising community health services, specifically codifying core services, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/standardising-community-health-services/

Community health services cover a diverse range of healthcare delivery, and the guidance supports improved commissioning and delivery of community healthcare services. Codifying community health services will help to better assess demand and capacity and will help commissioners make investment choices as they design neighbourhood health provision that shifts care to community-based settings.

This publication is available for designing, commissioning, and delivering community health services, including neighbourhood health. Integrated care boards and their partners should consider the core components to support demand and capacity assessment and planning with providers, and should ensure the best use of funding to meet local needs and priorities.

Many National Health Service trusts and local authorities offer an Integrated Community Equipment Service (ICES) within the integrated health and social care system, as they support both the home first agenda and hospital flows. These services can be provided in-house or by external suppliers following a tender exercise. An ICES enables people to remain in or return to their homes as the primary setting for care, avoiding unnecessary stays in hospital or care homes. Also, an ICES facilitates timely hospital admissions, treatment, and discharge processes, minimising delays and improving capacity across the sector.