Changes to the Integrated Care Board landscape
Verbal update on the ongoing changes to the Integrated Care Board
(ICB) landscape.
Contact: Vicky Dutchburn, Accountable Officer, NHS, West
Yorkshire ICB, Kirklees Place.
Minutes:
Vicky Dutchburn, Interim Accountable Officer, Kirklees Integrated Care Board (ICB), informed the Board that the ICB landscape has been rapidly changing over the last week and the position has evolved since the last update. The Board was reminded that during the previous update, a detailed overview was provided regarding the organisational changes across West Yorkshire and the specific impact that would have for Kirklees.
By way of context, the Board was informed that there are key missions that the government has set out. The first, is that they are looking at the cross governmental work for health, and there is going to be significant changes across the four key elements that deliver health services. These include the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, regional bodies, and local ICBs. Recently the 10-year plan for the NHS has been published, and in addition there are reforms for adult social care that have also been included.
The Board was informed that there are three key shifts in care identified within the 10-Year Plan. These include a move from treatment to prevention, which emphasises the importance of neighbourhood-level health initiatives and transitioning care from hospitals into the community; a stronger focus on neighbourhood health as a foundation for integrated care; and the shift from analogue to digital approaches, supporting more efficient and accessible service delivery.
At the previous meeting, the Board was informed of the rapid timeline for designing new structures to support the proposed functions of the ICB. A formal mandate was issued in April 2025, and within approximately eight weeks, the expectation was that draft structures were to be in place and submitted to NHS England on behalf of West Yorkshire. The required milestones were met.
During the process, it was identified that there were four key components requiring change across the wider NHS system. At the time, the only available blueprint for consideration related to expectations for the future ICB. As a result, designing the new structures were undertaken with limited clarity regarding the roles and requirements of emerging regional and national teams. Despite these constraints, draft structures were successfully developed and submitted for West Yorkshire.
Board members may recall that during the last update, attention was drawn to the scale of proposed changes, including a potential staffing reduction of up to 50%, with implementation expected to begin from October 2025. Concerns were also raised regarding the uncertainty around funding arrangements for any resulting redundancies. The current position with regard to redundancies is that there still remains a lack of funding for any redundancies this year and this is national. It is clear that it was never planned for national level to fund any redundancies, and it is unlikely that any funding will be coming down, from central to ICBs. It is expected that this will be funded from within existing resources.
It is recognised that the current financial position makes it unfeasible to implement the required changes within this financial year. This is not unique to Kirklees ... view the full minutes text for item 22