The North East London Integrated Care Board (NEL ICB) is undergoing a significant restructuring, aiming to become a leaner and more agile organisation focused on strategic commissioning and improving population health. This shift, driven by a national mandate to reduce running costs by approximately 50% to around £19 per head, will see commissioning responsibilities move to a NEL-wide level, with place-based partnerships concentrating on community delivery.
Charlotte Pomery, Chief Strategic Commissioning Officer for NEL ICB, presented the updated operating model at a recent Health and Wellbeing Board meeting. The new structure prioritises improving population health, tackling inequalities, shifting care from hospital to community settings, and promoting prevention and digital access.
This restructuring is part of a broader move towards neighbourhood health plans, which will replace Health and Wellbeing Strategies. These plans will focus on achieving nationally agreed metrics, including improving health outcomes, reducing health inequalities, and helping people stay well at home. They will also aim to organise services around the person for more convenient and joined-up care, reduce demand on acute services, and cut waste by integrating services across health, local government, and wider partners. Specifically, the national minimum goals for neighbourhoods are to improve health outcomes for high-priority populations, enhance access to general practice, improve the experience of planned care, boost urgent and emergency care performance, and increase patient and staff satisfaction. Additional local goals can be agreed upon through the Health and Wellbeing Boards based on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).
The NEL ICB's strategy aims to bridge gaps both between and within boroughs, with flexibility to adapt to local needs, while ensuring strong clinical leadership and integrating social care priorities. Mechanisms to ensure strong clinical leadership include ongoing work to integrate it into neighbourhood working, with neighbourhood representation from the ICB on each commissioning group. Locality Leadership Teams (LLTs) will bring partners together at the local level, supported by Clinical Leads.
Place-based partnerships will focus on delivery within communities, working in close partnership with local authorities, primary care networks, the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector, and community providers. Commissioning responsibilities will be managed at the NEL-wide level by three programme leads: Proactive Care, Primary Care, and Planned Care. Neighbourhood Development Directors will lead delivery within specific areas, supported by Deputy Directors for Neighbourhoods who will lead local partnership working. While specific funding for place-based partnerships is not detailed, the Better Care Fund (BCF) is a significant pooled funding programme between the NHS and local government, with a total pooled budget of £234,810,810 for Newham in 2026-27.
The success of the shift from hospital to community settings will be measured through several key metrics, including non-elective admissions for those aged 65 and over, average length of discharge delay, and long-term admissions to residential and nursing care homes. Newham's BCF plans include investments in neighbourhood-based proactive care to contain non-elective admissions. Expected patient outcomes include enabling individuals to live independently for longer and remain at home for longer.
Strategies to tackle inequalities are a core focus, with the Newham Health Equity Programme (NHEP) acting as a key initiative to support equity-led planning and evaluation. The NHEP will ensure projects measure equity outcomes and will facilitate system learning and accountability. An anti-racist approach will be adopted, using data to understand and address disproportionality. Findings from the Newham Residents Survey 2025 will inform more effective targeting of health messaging, service delivery, and research participation among under-represented groups.
The restructuring process is ongoing, with recruitment into new structures having begun in December 2025. Full outcomes are expected in early July, with a complete structure for Newham to be shared thereafter. Neighbourhood Health Plans are anticipated to be agreed and signed off by Health and Wellbeing Boards from April 2027. The implementation is planned in phases, with an estimated 12-18 month period for agreeing the future role, membership, and work plan of the Health and Wellbeing Board, and supporting induction and transition.
The Health and Wellbeing Board will play a central role in this new landscape, providing collective leadership, setting shared priorities, and ensuring alignment across partners. The board is expected to champion prevention, early intervention, and community-based models of care, while also ensuring resident voices are systematically incorporated into decision-making.
Further details on the restructuring and its implementation can be found in the Public reports pack Public reports pack 29th-Jun-2026 18.30 Health and Wellbeing Board and the Supplementary Agenda documents Supplementary Agenda 1 29th-Jun-2026 18.30 Health and Wellbeing Board, Supplementary Agenda 2 29th-Jun-2026 18.30 Health and Wellbeing Board, Supplementary Agenda 3 29th-Jun-2026 18.30 Health and Wellbeing Board.
