Cuts to England’s integrated care boards must not derail GP investment, say leaders

Government plans to halve the running costs of England’s integrated care boards (ICBs) by December this year have prompted warnings and calls for clarity among GPs, health leaders, and MPs.

The cuts to these organisations, which employ around 25 000 people in “non-frontline” roles such as commissioning, contract, and performance management, were revealed this week to ICB bosses by NHS England’s incoming chief executive, Jim Mackey. The news was soon followed by the government’s shock announcement on 13 March that it was abolishing NHS England to save millions on bureaucracy and bring management of the health service “back into democratic control.”1

There are 42 integrated care systems—partnerships of organisations that replaced clinical commissioning groups in the NHS in England from 1 July 2022 to help improve health and care services. The cutbacks …