February 2026
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This conference examined priorities for integrated care systems and commissioning in England, in the context of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, draft Model ICB Blueprint, and Medium-Term Planning Framework, as well as the transition towards the NHS operating framework.
It brought stakeholders and policymakers together 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 drew on the wider financial and policy context, including outcomes of the 2025 Spending Review and Autumn Budget, 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 examined 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 were assessed, including strategies for effective commissioning for those with multimorbidity.
Sessions discussed 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, were also 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 considered the development of these models and the coordination of care at place level, including collaboration between NHS bodies, local government, and voluntary sector organisations, as well as the role of new public-private partnerships announced in the 2025 Autumn Budget. Discussions addressed 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 also assessed 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 and growing diagnostics capacity. Improving the NHS estate to support the transition to neighbourhood health centres was discussed, as the Health Committee launches a new inquiry. Requirements for effective delivery and integration in systems with varying stages of organisational consolidation, financial pressures, and neighbourhood model implementation were also considered.
Digital systems
Further sessions examined 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 assessed the impact of an additional £300m investment in NHS technology announced in the 2025 Autumn Budget, looking at the rollout of digital services across diverse settings, and the relationship between national direction and local implementation.
All delegates were 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. As well as key stakeholders, those who attended include parliamentary-pass holders from the House of Commons and officials from the Department of Health and Social Care; Information Commissioner's Office; and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
