In January 2019, the University of Birmingham hosted a one-day workshop organised by the Journal of Integrated Care and the Integrated Care Researcher Network. As previous editors of the journal, it was a very proud moment to host such an event, with an audience that felt very much like a “Who’s Who” of the UK integrated care research and policy over at least the last 10 years. With the current editor organising and chairing the event itself, we were privileged to be there solely as participants – and this gave us the opportunity to reflect on the key lessons that we would take away from the workshop (and from all our years writing for and editing the journal, providing advice to government and supporting local integrated care initiatives). These are just personal reflections, but we were struck by how clear and consistent many of the key themes were across different policies, studies and projects developed over time in different policy, financial and geographical contexts.