Performance management role stripped from ICBs

NHS England — not integrated care boards — will be solely responsible for the performance management of trusts, the chief executive of NHSE has announced.

In her speech at the NHS Providers’ annual conference today, Amanda Pritchard clarified the roles of NHSE, ICBs and providers — something many trust leaders had been asking for since the establishment of ICBs. A call for greater clarity in this area was also a recommendation of the Darzi review of NHS performance.

Ms Pritchard also told the conference the financial position next year would be even “tighter” than this year, despite local NHS organisations setting unprecedented and often unrealistic savings targets in 2024-25.

Explaining how the service would now be run, she said NHSE would carry out “planning, assurance and support”, as well as “intervening quickly, providing expertise, and using our regulatory levers where performance is not acceptable”.

ICBs would focus “on strategic commissioning” and “creating the environment for more action on prevention and for the neighbourhood health model”.

Providers would have responsibility for “delivery, quality and safety and on joining up pathways”.

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Source: HSJ, 12 November 2024