What They Mean for Continuing Healthcare

The recent wave of ICB mergers and clustering across England, has left healthcare professionals, patients and their carers asking what this will mean for Continuing Healthcare (CHC) service delivery. For ICBs, these changes bring both challenges and opportunities, reshaping governance, aligning processes, and creating new ways to share best practice.

If executed properly, ICB mergers will result in improved efficiency gains via a reduction in  processes that are not cost effective, and are mixed at present, bringing a strength in collaboration to the sector, and delivery of a more cohesive experience for those relying on Continuing Healthcare.

The current restructuring of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) is part of a broader push for efficiency and consistency across the NHS as part of the NHS 10 year plan . Many smaller ICBs have struggled with differing interpretations of the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), leading to uneven service provision and outcomes across regions, impacting patients and staff.

Mergers and Clustering is intended to address this by creating larger, more resilient operating models that can pool expertise, reduce duplication, and deliver a more consistent approach to eligibility assessments and care planning outcomes.

One of the clearest benefits of merging ICBs is the chance to align digital infrastructure. Consistent use of digital systems across CHC teams is essential for improving efficiency and ensuring fairness. When systems vary between regions, or even between teams within the same ICB, it becomes difficult to maintain oversight, audit decisions, and ensure timely outcomes for patients.

Using the same digital tools across the whole region supports:

• Standardised assessments and decision-making
• Greater transparency and auditability
• Faster data sharing between professionals
• Improved tracking of case progression
• More accurate reporting and forecasting

In a system as complex and sensitive as CHC, where decisions can have life-changing implications for individuals and families, this consistency is not just a technical benefit, it’s a matter of necessity.

As ICBs look to consolidate processes, platforms such as IEG4’s Continuing Healthcare solution offer a compelling way forward. IEG4 (part of IEG Group) provides an end-to-end digital platform designed specifically to support the full CHC journey from checklist to decision.

Key features of the IEG4 platform include:

• Digital DSTs and checklists, with validation and automated workflows
• Integrated case management, reducing duplication and manual handovers
• Real-time reporting dashboards, helping ICBs track performance and spot delays
• Secure collaboration tools, enabling better communication between health and care professionals
• Automated notifications, improving communication with patients and families

By embedding best practice into the system itself, IEG4’s platform helps ensure consistent, transparent, and efficient CHC delivery. Examples of efficiency outcomes being achieved by ICBs are:

• Incorporating use of AI within IEG4 end-to-end CHC case management to record and summarise MDT meeting automatically – Saving Assessor time from six hours + to less than 60 minutes
• One ICB set up a central patient access team to reduce the number of separate administration teams and where possible centralise tasks. The same process was followed for their finance processes which supported the reduction on head count by using a single end-to-end digital platform where all the data is easily accessible
• Digital referral forms and system automation significantly reduce manual data entry. As a result of these efficiencies, an ICB has redefined the general CHC administrative role to that of a CHC Support Worker, whose responsibilities now include supporting CHC Assessors by pre-populating DSTs with information gleaned from an individual’s care records ahead of MDT meetings; facilitating faster, more efficient assessments
• Improved Payments Process enhances the system for Providers and streamlines the generation of payment files/extracts; making payments more efficient and accurate and therefore reducing time from days to minutes

For newly merged ICBs, adopting a common, purpose-built platform can reduce the administrative burden and free up staff to focus on what matters most: the quality and timeliness of care.

The full impact of ICB mergers will take time to unfold, but early indications suggest that when done with care and clarity, these changes can bring real benefits. For professionals in CHC, the priority should be collaboration, learning from each other, standardising what works, and continuing to advocate for the needs of those who rely on this essential service.

IEG4’s CHC platform is uniquely positioned to support ICBs through this transition. By providing a single, end-to-end digital solution, IEG4 helps reduce variation, improve compliance with the National Framework, and streamline the entire CHC process; from referral to review. It enables consistency across teams, faster decision-making, and better visibility for managers, while keeping the patient journey at the centre.

As ICBs come together, IEG4 offers the digital foundations needed to deliver fairer, faster, and more transparent care at scale. To find out more about the solution, email [email protected]