Ex-health secretary attacks ‘drastic’ ICB shake-up

In March, government announced a 50 per cent cut to integrated care board staffing – which is giving rise to a wave of mergers – and the abolition of NHS England.

The Greater Manchester Mayor said the ICB changes, under which they have been asked to focus on strategic commissioning rather than overseeing their system, appeared to involve “slimming [them] down with a very narrow focus”.

This was “the wrong way to go”, said Mr Burnham, who co-chairs GM’s integrated care partnership board.

Mr Burnham warned such shake-ups “take people’s focus internally” and away from dealing with the “big challenges”.

“I actually feel that it’s not fair necessarily for people to risk drastic things and not get clarity on where the map is, going forward,” he said.

The politician, who was health secretary from 2009-10, told an NHS Confederation event yesterday: “I would urge a bit of stepping backwards… Does this mean ICBs get shrunk back to chasing targets? I really would argue against that very much.”

He said he had “real concerns” about the “reorganisation”. It “feels like [the NHS’s priorities] might be going narrower rather than broader”, he said.

It appeared it would “almost… put the health service back in the silo within Greater Manchester. I would be very worried about that, that would be the wrong way to go”.

Plans to strip back the size and role of ICBs alongside abolishing NHSE have been criticised in the sector, including the seeming lack of direction and plan of action.  

Arrangements to consolidate the number of ICBs from 42 to between 23 and 28 are well advanced, with the ICB landscape likely to be redrawn.

A DHSC spokesperson claimed it was “leading the biggest devolution of power to local organisations in a generation”.

“We’ve already reduced the number of national targets for NHS organisations and we will continue to build on this, putting more power in the hands of local NHS organisations and leaders,” they said.