The NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for planning and funding NHS services for people living in Essex. NHS Essex Integrated Care Board works with partners across health and care to improve services and support better health for communities across the county.
We decide how the NHS budget for Essex is spent and work with partners across health, care and the community to improve people’s health and wellbeing.
Our role includes developing plans to improve people’s health, provide high-quality and safe NHS services, ensure services offer good value for money and reduce health inequalities. One of the key ways we do this is through our plan to improve health and wellbeing in Essex, which sets out our priorities for improving health and care across the county over the next five years.
We work closely with organisations across Essex to address the wider factors that affect people’s health, including housing, employment, education, the environment and access to services.
With a budget of £5.3 billion and an NHS workforce of more than 440 whole-time equivalent staff (including fixed-term contracts), we are responsible for planning health services for around 1.9 million residents across Essex.
Our geography
Essex is a large and diverse county in the east of England. It includes three cities – Chelmsford, Colchester and Southend-on-Sea – making it one of a small number of English counties with multiple cities outside major metropolitan areas.
Our communities include:
- urban centres such as Basildon, Buckhurst Hill, Harlow and Witham
- commuter towns with strong links to London including Epping Forest and Thurrock
- rural communities such as Stansted Mountfitchet and the Colne Valley
- coastal towns including Shoeburyness, Leigh-on-Sea, Clacton and Harwich
This diversity of places and communities means that health and care needs vary across Essex. As a result, services must be equitable, locally responsive and designed for the future.
Essex’s location in the south-east, with strong transport connections to London and neighbouring counties, means many people live and work across the region. The county is also home to London Stansted Airport, one of the busiest airports in England, which brings economic benefits as well as unique considerations for health, transport and emergency planning.
Several areas of Essex are also experiencing significant population growth, particularly in towns with strong connections to London and major employment centres.
Health and care needs across the county
Because Essex is geographically and socially diverse, communities across the county experience different health and care challenges.
For example:
- Urban and commuter areas often experience growing demand linked to population growth, ageing populations and long-term health conditions.
- Rural communities may face challenges such as travel distances, transport barriers and limited access to local services.
- Coastal communities, while rich in community identity, often experience higher levels of deprivation and poorer health outcomes.
In some coastal areas, residents experience lower life expectancy and higher rates of long-term illness than the England average.
Across Essex there are also significant health inequalities between neighbourhoods. Healthy life expectancy can vary considerably, meaning people in some communities spend many more years in good health than others.
These inequalities are often linked to wider social factors including income, employment, education, housing and access to services. Reducing these inequalities is a central focus of our plan to improve health and wellbeing in Essex.
Our corporate objectives
At the NHS Essex ICB Board meeting on Thursday 23 April 2026, the organisation’s Corporate Objectives for 2026/2027 were agreed.
These set out the priorities and outcomes we are collectively working towards as an organisation and provide a clear framework for decision‑making, planning and performance across all teams.
Reduction in premature mortality from CVD, cancer and respiratory disease in our most deprived communities.
Improvement in Core20PLUS5 indicators.
Improved school readiness and early years outcomes in our most disadvantaged areas.
2.5%+ shift of acute expenditure into neighbourhood care over the life of the plan, including a significant shift of outpatients.
Reducing crisis events through improvement in frailty and end of life identification, care planning.
Higher uptake of screening and vaccinations.
Improved long-term condition management, initially focusing on cardiometabolic optimisation.
Delivery of national standards for elective, diagnostic and cancer pathways by the end of the planning period.
Reduction in long waits for mental health, community, children’s and neurodiversity services.
Increased patient experience and access scores across NHS services.
In balance over the life of the plan.
Reduction in high-cost institutional care.
Specialising and rationalising services where required.
Commissioning for productivity and value for money.
Modernised estates
Creating a new culture for a new organisation, building on what worked in the three ICBs that spanned Essex.
Taking a programme approach to delivering this work.
Ensuring culture change is a collaborative effort that is driven by the people who work in the organisation.
How NHS Essex Integrated Care Board works with partners
Improving health and care across Essex requires strong partnership working.
We work closely with NHS organisations and partners across the county to plan and deliver services that meet the needs of local communities.
Our health and care system includes*:
- 3 acute hospital trusts providing emergency, specialist and planned care
- 10 community hospitals supporting rehabilitation, recovery and outpatient services
- 6 community diagnostic centres improving access to tests and early diagnosis
- 5 urgent treatment centres providing same-day urgent care
- 1 ambulance trust coordinating emergency response and transport
- 204 GP practices and 41 Primary Care Networks delivering primary and preventive care
- 308 community pharmacies supporting medicines advice and health promotion
- 250 NHS dental practices (including orthodontic and other dental services) supporting oral health
- 199 optical practices supporting eye health
- 8 hospices providing specialist palliative care and supporting people, families and carers at every stage of life-limiting illness
We also work with a wide range of partners from local government, Essex Police, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, Healthwatch and voluntary and community organisations.
By working together, we aim to improve health outcomes, reduce inequalities and ensure services meet the needs of communities across Essex.
*Correct as of April 2026
