Clustered integrated care boards should merge by next April, even if it is likely they will cut across future regional government footprints, NHS England has said.
A new NHSE letter to ICBs, seen by HSJ, gives them until next month to propose merged footprints, or to explain why they cannot.
In response to NHSE orders and cost cuts announced last spring, 20 ICBs have formed nine clusters under shared chairs and chief executives. A further 12 ICBs merged in April this year into six.
The letter, sent earlier this month, says: “Moving from ICB clusters to merged ICBs will allow the achievement of further efficiencies and full focus on strategic commissioning. Therefore, it is proposed that on 1 April 2027, ICB clusters will be replaced by merged ICBs serving populations of at least 1.5 million.”
However, the plan may be complicated by and controversial with local government, because some ICB clusters cut across current and expected boundaries of “strategic authorities”, which are part of the government’s devolution and regional development plans.
Examples include Coventry, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority mayoral patch centred on Birmingham, but is in an ICB cluster with Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Date: 25 June