Integrated care boards have been told to cut their running costs in half by December, HSJ has reported.
Incoming NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey informed ICB chief executives of the move during a phone call late this afternoon. The move comes just days after the announcement that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care would be subject to cuts on a similar scale.
ICBs had already been ordered to cut running costs by 20 per cent over the past two years.
Sir Jim told the ICB CEOs the Treasury would cover the cost of redundancies, which are likely to be necessary, and that cuts must be made by the third quarter of 2025-26. HSJ understands they were also informed that trusts would be required to cut managerial costs.
The measures are part of a “financial reset” package due to be outlined by Sir Jim to NHS CEOs in London on Thursday.
The cuts to integrated care board budgets will make it next to impossible for some individual ICBs to operate as a standalone organisations, or to carry out the full range of responsibilities originally given to them by the 2022 Health and Care Act.
Date: 13 March