Afternoon, Monday, 2nd February 2026
Online
This conference will examine priorities for integrated care systems and commissioning in England, in the context of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, draft Model ICB Blueprint, publication of the Medium-Term Planning Framework and the transition towards the NHS operating framework.
It will bring together stakeholders and policymakers to discuss key issues arising from changing responsibilities at local, regional, and national levels, alongside evolving roles in planning, funding, and service delivery, as well as practical considerations for implementation. Discussion will draw on the wider financial and policy context, including outcomes of the 2025 Spending Review, moving to a multi-year approach to planning, the role of NHS league tables in driving performance, and the frameworks system leaders are developing to support consistency, accountability, and system oversight.
Services, commissioning & streamlining
Delegates will examine the transition to strategic commissioning, including the delegation of a broad range of specialised services to ICBs, and the consolidation of functions such as planning, finance, and governance within and across systems. Implications for coordination, local accountability, and capacity will be assessed, including strategies for effective commissioning for those with multimorbidity.
Sessions discuss what will be required to deliver changes needed to meet the requirement to halve administrative costs, including the impact of recent clustering arrangements, and the potential for mergers of ICBs from April 2026. Possible implications for leadership capacity, service continuity, and delivery of core functions, such as governance and quality assurance, will also be assessed.
Care in the community & local health needs
With the NHS 10-Year Health Plan announcing The Neighbourhood Health Service, aiming to deliver patient-centred integrated care, attendees will consider the development of these models and the coordination of care at place level, including collaboration between NHS bodies, local government, and voluntary sector organisations. Discussions will address interoperability and rollout challenges in varied settings, how services can be designed to work with the local community, opportunities for co-production with lived experience and strategic options for coordinating local intelligence with regional planning.
Sessions will also assess how local strategies will need to respond to population health needs - such as long-term conditions, ageing populations, and persistent health inequalities - alongside priorities for developing digital systems, growing diagnostics capacity, and improving the NHS estate. Requirements for effective delivery and integration in systems with varying stages of organisational consolidation, financial pressures, and neighbourhood model implementation will also be considered.
Digital systems
Further planned sessions will examine the role of digital infrastructure and tools in supporting service coordination, identification of community-specific needs, and improving patient access, including developments linked to the NHS App. Delegates will assess priorities for investment, the rollout of digital services across diverse settings, and the relationship between national direction and local implementation.
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates.
