I recently met with Jan Thomas, newly appointed as the Chief Executive of the new Central East ‘mega-ICB’.
For those of you who don’t know, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are the NHS organizations responsible for planning and commissioning primary care services like GP, dental, optometry, and pharmacy services and deciding how the local NHS budget is spent.
In March 2025 the Government told ICBs to cut running costs by 50%. To save costs ICBs are now required to cluster and so three ICBs are merging to form ‘Central East ICB’ which should come into effect early next year.
Integrated Care Boards are now required to cluster and so the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB we are currently part of will be combined with Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, and Hertfordshire. It will become the second-biggest ICB in the country.
It was important to discuss the impact this will have on local services and I was able to highlight my concerns around the prioritisation of services. I will continue to liaise with Jan and fight to ensure our local services are improved by these changes.
My thanks to Jan and also to Kate Vaughton, Executive Director for Neighbourhood Health, Place and Partnerships, for outlining the changes. I will meet regularly with them and their wider team to understand how the transition is changing local healthcare.
