ICBs initially brought together a number of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and, having been tasked with making 30% reduction in running costs, have had to look at their staffing as one way of meeting that target. This has to be balanced against meeting their aims of improving outcomes, tackling inequalities, enhancing productivity and value for money and help the NHS support broader social and economic development. In 2024 Healthcare Leader carried out an extensive investigation to learn more about the ICB workforce. Here we look at cuts, levels, hires, redundancies, hires and resignations.
Two and a half years ago the architecture of the NHS was upended in the predictable cycle of shrinking and inflating the NHS structures as finances and organisational scale repeat an age-old tussle.
The GP-led clinical commissioning groups of 2012 ballooned and were cast aside in July 2022 and integrated care boards (ICB) came online. Operating in shadow form as sustainability transformation teams they now became fully fledged legal entities in the Health and Care Act 2022 in charge of running healthcare systems across their 42 geographies in England.
The aim being to work hand in hand with local authorities and hospital trusts but without any formal leavers to make direct changes in these sectors.
Their power is one of convening, of bringing people together, taking a view across the whole ecosystem from employment to public health. Running pharmacy, dentistry and optometry.
But as highlighted earlier in this report they are operating in difficult times. Efficiency savings of 30% demanded by NHS England, increase in patient demand, a pandemic and a reduced workforce.
So who now runs the NHS? Who are these managers and where are the clinicians now holding the purse strings of the NHS.
Healthcare Leader, the brand dedicated to the work of ICBs has conducted a series of FOI investigations to which all 42 ICB responded to look at the ICB workforce.
ICB workforce
Administrative and nursing staff are the two largest groups employed by ICBs across England, according to our investigation.
Although all 42 responded there were 19 ICBs which gave comparable data by breaking roles down as listed on the electronic staff record which includes: additional professional scientific and technical; additional clinical services, administrative and clerical; medical and dental; nursing and midwifery; allied health professionals.
South Yorkshire also reported 115 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians alongside these other categories.
In total, 9,110 of the 12,496 staff employed across the 19 ICBs were administrative and clerical. The next largest staff group was nursing and midwifery staff, with 1,868 employed. This was followed by additional professional scientific and technical staff, who made up 760 across the 19 ICBs.
A further 578 medical and dental staff were reported across the systems.
This is a similar make up compared to an FOI investigation from 2023, where more than 13,000 administrative staff were employed alongside 2,074 nurses and midwives.
North East London recorded the most administrative staff, with 759 employees. It is the ninth largest ICB in terms of staffing numbers in total, and sixth largest in population size.
This is followed by Cheshire and Merseyside, the fourth largest ICB in terms of population, with 745 administrative staff. And Humber and North Yorkshire, with the thirteenth largest population, recorded 651 staff in this category.
The lowest numbers of administrative employees (230) are recorded in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which is also one of the smallest ICBs, at fortieth for population size. This is followed by Herefordshire and Worcestershire (248) and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (327).
The greatest number of nursing staff is employed by Cheshire and Merseyside, with 218 employees in this category. Followed by Lancashire and South Cumbria (197) and South Yorkshire (155). These two are twelfth and eighteenth in terms of patient population size.
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight ICB, which employs 136 nursing and midwifery staff, said these roles included the following:
- Continuing health care nurses that work directly with patients to assess their needs,
- Quality nurses who work across local providers ensuring quality standards are met,
- Safeguarding nurses – supporting the safeguarding processes of adults and children,
- Children’s nurses and midwives who support children with complex needs and maternity services across Hampshire.
‘Then we have professional leads and managers who support the front-line staff as mentioned,’ it added.
Although it has the highest number of administrative staff, North East London reported the lowest number of nurses and midwifery staff, with just 29 recorded in their staff numbers.
Of the other ICBs that didn’t respond with comparable data, North West London said all roles it employs are administrative or management roles as the ‘ICB does not directly provide services’.
Somerset and North Central London ICBs said they could not provide a breakdown as their ICBs were currently reviewing jobs and going through ‘organisational change’.
Staff cuts
In 2023, systems were tasked with cutting their running costs, including staffing, by 30% by NHS England, with at least 20% of that to be delivered in 2024/25.
Taking into account the impact of the financial pay award of 2023/24 the total running cost allowance for ICBs has reduced from £1.1bn in 2023/24 to £828m in 2025/26. A cut of around 25%.
According to our investigation Greater Manchester ICB saw the highest fall in staff numbers from its integrated care system between 2023 and 2024 compared to other ICBs.
Greater Manchester, the largest ICB both in staff numbers and in population size, saw a drop of 181 roles between 2023 and 2024, when comparing the FOI figures from a similar Healthcare Leader investigation in February 2023 in which 29 ICBs gave headcount figures.
Greater Manchester ICB said the reasons for employees leaving during this time included organisational change, voluntary resignation, mutually agreed resignation and end of fixed term contracts.
A spokesperson added: ‘NHS GM formed in July 2022, it brought together 12 separate organisations and since that time we have been undergoing ongoing organisational change to develop a unified organisation.’
The second highest fall was in North East and North Cumbria ICB, which saw staff numbers drop by 128 across the year, from 771 in 2023 to 643 in 2024.
David Purdue, chief nurse, allied health professionals and people officer at North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: ‘As England’s largest ICB, we brought together eight former CCGs and were able to centralise a number of functions to make economies of scale. In addition, our employed staff draw on significant support from colleagues at North of England Care System Support (NECS) in areas like HR and business intelligence.
‘Like other ICBs, we have been through a challenging process in meeting the 30% target, but we are confident that we have created a structure that is strong and focused to deliver our priorities around Better Health for All in our region.’
Third highest was Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB which went from 561 to 468, a drop of 93 roles.
However, despite being tasked with cutting costs, not every ICB saw a fall in roles. Of those who responded to the question, only 17 saw staffing figures fall. A further 12 added employees to their staff lists.
Cheshire and Merseyside was the highest of these with 139 staff joining, second was Frimley with 94 and third Birmingham and Solihull with 62.
Cheshire and Merseyside ICB said the changes had come after some services had been transferred from NHS England with the transfer of responsibilities, and that some staff had also been ‘insourced’ from the commissioning support unit (CSU) to support a ‘consistent approach’ to service delivery across its nine places.
A spokesperson from Frimley ICB similarly said the increase was due to additional commissioning functions from NHS England.
They said: ‘NHS Frimley is in the final stages of implementing a full organisational change programme which delivers a 30% reduction in its full operating costs and optimises capacity in key areas.
‘The increase in staff numbers is due to additional commissioning functions being delegated from NHS England to ICBs, which NHS Frimley hosts on behalf of all ICBs across the southeast. Areas covered include Pharmacy, Optometry and Dentistry, and the primary care complaints function.
‘These services were transferred outside of the ICB requirement to reduce running costs. NHS Frimley has also in-housed some core capacity from CSU provision in finance and contracting which has enabled a reduction in our cost base. Establishment controls remain in place to manage headcount and align to running cost allowance (RCA) reductions.’
Behind Greater Manchester, the ICBs with the highest staff numbers in total are Cheshire and Merseyside ICB and West Yorkshire ICB, with 1,215 and 1,141, respectively.
The areas with the least staff are in Northamptonshire ICB (212), Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ICB (304), and Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (306).
ICB staff per population
The investigation also found a large variation in the number of ICB staff per resident across ICBs, with more than 2,000 extra residents per ICB board employee in some areas.
Despite seeing the second highest drop in ICB staff, North East and North Cumbria still had the largest staff to population ratio, with 4,900 patients per employee.
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB was just behind on 4,118 residents per employee. This was followed by Northamptonshire ICB with 3,836.
Gloucestershire ICB had the lowest population to system staff ratio, with 1,462 people per ICB employee, followed by Norfolk and Waveney on 1,584 and Dorset on 1,624.
A spokesperson for Northamptonshire ICB said: ‘In terms of workforce size, Northamptonshire ICB is one of the smaller ICBs in the country and reduced our workforce even further this year. With growing demands on Integrated Care Boards, we are required to ensure we have sufficient capacity and capability across our workforce to meet these demands, and we are confident our structures do that.’
Top five ICBs with the most staff
| ICB | Employees 2024 |
| Greater Manchester | 1,682 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 1,215 |
| West Yorkshire | 1,141 |
| North West London | 931 |
| Hampshire and the Isle of Wight | 875 |
It follows the Darzi report which suggested that ICBs were a ‘sensible management structure’ but that their roles and responsibilities needed clarifying.
Though both the Conservatives and Reform UK parties called for a reduction in managers in the NHS during the July general election, Lord Ara Darzi added in his report that this was not a problem. Instead, he said there were ‘too few’ with the right skills and capabilities.
| ICB | How many staff members employed May 2024 (headcount) | How many staff members employed Feb 2023 (headcount) | Difference between 23-24 |
| Greater Manchester | 1682 | 1863 | -181 |
| North East and North Cumbria | 643 | 771 | -128 |
| Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire | 468 | 561 | -93 |
| West Yorkshire | 1141 | 1211 | -70 |
| North East London | 817 | 873 | -56 |
| Surrey Heartlands | 617 | 667 | -50 |
| Mid and South Essex | 425 | 470 | -45 |
| Norfolk and Waveney | 683 | 721 | -38 |
| Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly | 304 | 341 | -37 |
| Derby and Derbyshire | 487 | 520 | -33 |
| Lincolnshire | 386 | 410 | -24 |
| South East London | 652 | 671 | -19 |
| South Yorkshire | 834 | 850 | -16 |
| Coventry and Warwickshire | 396 | 411 | -15 |
| Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire | 488 | 502 | -14 |
| Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes | 409 | 414 | -5 |
| The Black Country | 547 | 549 | -2 |
| Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland | 341 | 331 | 10 |
| North West London | 931 | 920 | 11 |
| Dorset | 505 | 488 | 17 |
| Gloucestershire | 462 | 443 | 19 |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | 453 | 429 | 24 |
| Northamptonshire | 212 | 187 | 25 |
| South West London | 666 | 625 | 41 |
| Hertfordshire and West Essex | 742 | 691 | 51 |
| Nottingham and Nottinghamshire | 628 | 571 | 57 |
| Birmingham and Solihull | 561 | 499 | 62 |
| Frimley | 434 | 340 | 94 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 1,215 | 1076 | 139 |
| Hampshire and the Isle of Wight | 875 | – | – |
| Lancashire and South Cumbria | 843 | – | – |
| Kent and Medway | 646 | – | – |
| North Central London | 598 | – | – |
| Devon | 495 | – | – |
| Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West | 472 | – | – |
| Herefordshire and Worcestershire | 371 | – | – |
| Somerset | 361 | – | – |
| Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent | 313 | – | – |
| Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin | 306 | – | – |
| Humber and North Yorkshire | – | – | – |
| Suffolk and North East Essex | – | – | – |
| Sussex | – | – | – |
Redundancies
More than £25m has been saved by ICBs through redundancies since they were set up in July 2022 the investigation revealed.
In total 437 people were made redundant, the majority (56%) of which were as a result of voluntary redundancy from roles including managers, midwives, director of nursing and community practitioners, out of a total workforce of 23,409.
This represents 2.3% saving of the total running costs of ICBs which was set to £1.1bn for 2023/24 and which ICBs were tasked with cutting by 30% with at least 20% of that to be delivered in 2024/25.
The bulk of this saving from redundancies has been made in the last financial year (2023/24) with more than £20m (£20,157,021) being saved and a total of £25,173,914 cost savings as a result of redundancies reported by ICBs between July 2022 and April 2024.
Healthcare Leader’ s FOI asked ICBs to provide the amount of cost savings they had seen following both voluntary and compulsory redundancies since they were set up and across the most recent financial year (2023/24).
Out of the 25 ICBs who answered the question, the ICB which saved the most money via redundancies during the past financial year was Mid and South Essex with £4.2m cost savings in 2023/24. It reported none in the first year of operation as it stated any redundancies in this period were as a result of the move from clinical commissioning groups to ICBs.
The next two highest cost savings were reported by North East and North Cumbria ICB with £3.6m and Kent and Medway with £2.2m. Eight ICBs said they had made no cost savings via redundancies in the same year. A further nine said the question was ‘not applicable’ or that there were no redundancies made.
Of the remaining seven ICBs, Suffolk and North East Essex said although there have been redundancies in the last quarter of 2023/24, the cost savings of these had not yet been realised.
Somerset ICB and Birmingham and Solihull ICB said the figures were intended for future publication so were exempt from the request.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ICB gave a total cost savings figure of £814,000 for between when the ICB was set up and when the FOI was sent, however they did not break this down under the parameters we asked for.
Greater Manchester meanwhile said: ‘Compulsory redundancies occur where no role exists in the organisation for an employed individual. Where no role exists, no budget is assigned to the role, and as such, no saving can be made.’
West Yorkshire said no savings were made during the 2023/24 period and that those in 2022-24 were only a result of the 30% requested savings. Northamptonshire similarly said no savings were made as a result of redundancies in both years, and although posts were changed between 2022-24 this did not release cost savings as it was part of an organisational restructure.
Consultations
The investigation also found that ICBs have undertaken at least 94 redundancy consultations across the system, nine of which were recorded as either across the whole ICB organisation or with the ‘majority of staff’.
As a result, ICBs reported making 437 roles redundant altogether between 2022 and 2024, 369 of those happening within the 2023/24 financial year. Though two of the redundancies made at Surrey Heartlands ICB were defined as not being part of a consultation process.
Of the redundancies in 2023/24, 246 of them were voluntary, our investigation found.
Over the past financial year, Mid and South Essex and North East and North Cumbria were the ICBs who made the highest number of redundancies, with 73 and 64 redundancies respectively. This was followed by Bath and North East Somerset with 42, 32 of which were voluntary.
A spokesperson for Mid and South Essex ICB said: ‘NHS Mid and South Essex undertook an organisational change programme from May 2023 – December 2023 that saw around 100 staff leave the ICB because of voluntary resignation, voluntary redundancy, and compulsory redundancy.
‘The cost saving of £4.2m (being the difference between the ICB running costs incurred in 23/24 and the ICB running cost allocation in 24/25) is a result of the national requirement for ICBs to reduce running costs by 30% by 2025/26, with at least 20% to be delivered in 2024/25.’
A spokesperson for Bath and North East Somerset ICB said: ‘As part of the national directive for all ICBs to reduce their running costs, BSW ICB ran a voluntary redundancy scheme.
‘This supported colleagues across our organisation to take control of their future career choices and to ensure that we were able to keep compulsory redundancy numbers to a minimum.
‘As with many other ICBs, we have made a small number of compulsory redundancies and have ensured that we have supported colleagues throughout this process.’ But despite reporting 44 redundancies, it said there had been ‘no cost savings to date’.
However, this question of how many redundancies were made was only answered fully by 26 ICBs. Eight ICBs said they were exempt from the question, either because there were too few redundancies and the individuals involved might be able to be identified, or due to the information already being in the public domain.
A further four detailed voluntary redundancies but did not include these in the overall question on how many redundancies they made over the 2023/24 period. These were North Central London, with 84 voluntary redundancies, Norfolk and Waveney with 21, plus three unspecified, Devon with 17, plus three unconfirmed, and Hertfordshire and West Essex with three.
Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB said this figure was because the voluntary redundancies had been agreed within the financial year, but had not happened yet.
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes said they had eight ‘successful applicants’ to their voluntary redundancy scheme, but they classed them as ‘not made redundant but entered into mutual agreements to end their employment’.
Nine ICBs stated that they had not made any redundancies over the financial year.
Five also stated they were currently running a voluntary redundancy scheme when the FOI was answered, including Devon, Humber and North Yorkshire, Surrey Heartlands, Sussex and Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICBs.
While Greater Manchester had seen the highest fall in its overall staff numbers from its integrated care system between 2023 and 2024 only seven of these roles were redundancies, according to the FOI data.
Coventry and Warwickshire, Kent and Medway, West Yorkshire, North East and North Cumbria, ICBs were contacted for comment.
| ICB | Cost savings from redundancies July 2022 – April 2024 | Total redundancies July 2022 – April 2024 |
| North East and North Cumbria | £4,624,000 | 73 |
| Mid and South Essex | £4,200,000 | 82 |
| Coventry and Warwickshire | £2,539,470 | 43 |
| Kent and Medway | £2,423,988 | 28 |
| Devon | £1,929,420 | Did not provide a figure within parameters asked for |
| North East London | £1,887,993 | 23 |
| South Yorkshire | £1,212,000 | 24 |
| Dorset | £1,155,483 | 13 |
| Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes | £965,117 | Did not provide a figure within parameters asked for |
| North Central London | £950,000 | Did not provide a figure |
| Lancashire and South Cumbria | £860,912 | 8 |
| The Black Country | £563,972 | Did not provide a figure |
| Humber and North Yorkshire | £431,000 | Did not provide figure |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | £351,526 | 4 |
| Nottingham and Nottinghamshire | £250,000 | Did not provide a figure |
| Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent | £200,199 | Did not provide a figure |
| Frimley | £186,000 | Did not provide a figure |
| Surrey Heartlands | £152,000 | 2 |
| Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin | £145,000 | 2 |
| Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire | £126,000 | 23 |
| Norfolk and Waveney | £19,833 | Did not provide a figure within parameters asked for |
| Hertfordshire and West Essex | £0 | Did not provide a figure within parameters asked for |
| Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire | £0 | 44 |
| Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West | £0 | Did not provide a figure |
| Sussex | £0 | Did not provide a figure |
| South East London | £0 | 0 |
| West Yorkshire | Did not provide a figure | 40 |
| Greater Manchester | Did not provide a figure | 21 |
| Hampshire and the Isle of Wight | Not applicable | 7 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | Not applicable | 0 |
| Derby and Derbyshire | Not applicable | 0 |
| Gloucestershire | Not applicable | 0 |
| Herefordshire and Worcestershire | Not applicable | 0 |
| Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland | Not applicable | 0 |
| Lincolnshire | Not applicable | 0 |
| North West London | No redundancies were made | 0 |
| South West London | Not applicable | 0 |
| Birmingham and Solihull | Did not provide a figure | Did not provide a figure |
| Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly | Did not provide a figure within parameters asked | Did not provide a figure |
| Northamptonshire | No cost savings were made as the post was changed in organisation restructure | Did not provide a figure |
| Somerset | Did not provide a figure | Did not provide a figure |
| Suffolk and North East Essex | No savings have been realised | Did not provide a figure within parameters asked for |
| TOTAL | £25,173,914 | 437 |
Hires
ICBs in the North of England have hired more staff than those in the South in the 2023/24 financial year.
The FOI asked asked ICBs to detail the number of hires they had made between when ICBs were first set up in July 2022 and April 2024, and for the 2023/24 financial year.
It found that the 40 ICBs who answered the question had made 8,395 hires between July 2022 to April 2024, 4,082 of which were made during 2023/24.
Those in the North of England had made more hires than those in the South, with Lancashire and South Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Humber and North Yorkshire and Cheshire and Merseyside four out of the top five ICBs for hiring in 2023/24 (see box for details).
| ICB | How many hires has the ICB made over the 2023/24 financial year? |
| Lancashire and South Cumbria | 406 |
| Greater Manchester | 259 |
| Birmingham and Solihull | 226 |
| Humber and North Yorkshire | 223 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 201 |
Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB’s chief executive, Kevin Lavery, said their hiring of 406 staff, which is almost half (48%) of its total staff numbers in the 2023/24 financial year, was due to moving roles in-house that had previously been undertaken by the commissioning support unit (CSU).
He said: ‘The rise in the number of staff working for the ICB is largely driven by in-housing a wide range of functions from the CSU, including finance, communications, HR, and customer complaints, and primarily the Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) of Continuing Healthcare (CHC) staff, which saw 150 staff transferred and other posts recruited to by the ICB.’
However, he added that the move had reduced running costs and that they ‘have clear evidence of the positive impact’.
‘The ICB is continuing to work collaboratively to ensure the NHS funding across Lancashire and South Cumbria provides best value for money and we are focused on improving outcomes for our patients, the public and our staff,’ he said.
A spokesperson for Humber and North Yorkshire ICB also said they had moved some functions in-house and that comparing their May 2024 position with data from the previous year is ‘misleading’ as it would not be comparing ‘like-for-like’.
They said: ‘Over the last 18 months, NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB has taken on responsibility for hosting several functions on behalf of other systems as well as in-housing some services previously delivered through other mechanisms. This has led to an increase in staff directly employed by the ICB.’
They added: ‘The ICB is committed to and is in the process of implementing organisational changes necessary to ensure the functions of the organisation are delivered as efficiently as possible, fit for the future, whilst meeting our financial obligations including continuing to operate below the agreed allocation for running costs.’
A spokesperson from Birmingham and Solihull ICB added that it had taken a full review of staffing levels to ensure its structure is ‘fit for purpose within the constraints of reduced running cost allocations’.
‘The results of this review has seen new models now implemented across the organisation, and includes the distribution of ICB staff into our provider collaboratives which ensures commissioning decisions can be made closer to the point of care delivery – an ambition set out within our inception framework,’ they said.
‘Our increase in staff relates, in large part, to our ICB taking on host responsibilities for pharmacy, optometry and dentistry staff from NHS England as part of its delegation of functions, and thanks to efficiencies made elsewhere and in other ways across our organisation, we have been able to continue to recruit to key roles.’
Greater Manchester also referenced the bringing together of 12 separate organisations when the ICB was formed in July 2022 and has since ‘continued to develop into a single, unified organisation’. ‘During this period of ongoing development, enhanced workforce movement has taken place for a wide range of reasons. These have included transferring employees into NHS GM from other NHS bodies and Trusts (post July 2022) which has accounted for over half of the “new hires” during this period,’ the spokesperson said.
Resignations
The FOI request also asked how many resignations each ICB had over the past financial year (2023-24), which was split more evenly across the country.
In total, there were 2,705 resignations across the 41 ICBs who answered this question, although Sussex ICB added that there was an additional 16 retirements that were not included in its figure.
Greater Manchester ICB had the highest number of resignations (148), followed by West Yorkshire ICB (112) and Bath and North East Somerset ICB (102).
On average ICB resignation numbers represented 11% of their staff list, only Bath and North East Somerset ICB saw resignations above 20% of its total workforce for the financial year (21%).
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester said it had seen a ‘higher level of workforce movement than what would be anticipated for a steady state organisation’.
It said factors that had contributed to this included that Greater Manchester ‘has implemented two mutually agreed resignation schemes, transferred a number of employees into other NHS organisations, a number of fixed term contract arrangements have come to a natural end and a number of employees retired’.
A spokesperson for North West London ICB said: ‘ICBs have been required to reduce their running costs by 30%. Staff costs represent over 90% of our running costs.
‘As one of the largest ICBs in the country, bringing together eight CCGs into a new organisation in July 2022, and creating a new purpose as a new organisation, the NWL ICB will inevitably have one of the largest number of resignations in order to achieve that objective and retain its status as one of the highest performing ICSs.’
West Yorkshire, Bath and North East Somerset and Cheshire and Merseyside were approached for comment.
| ICB | How many hires has the ICB made over the 2023/24 financial year? (headcount) | How many resignations have there been in the last financial year (2023/24)? (headcount) |
| Lancashire and South Cumbria | 406 | 53 |
| Greater Manchester | 259 | 148 |
| Birmingham and Solihull | 226 | 80 |
| Humber and North Yorkshire | 223 | 78 |
| Cheshire and Merseyside | 201 | 80 |
| Nottingham and Nottinghamshire | 162 | 82 |
| West Yorkshire | 154 | 112 |
| Hertfordshire and West Essex | 146 | 61 |
| Surrey Heartlands | 128 | 63 |
| North East and North Cumbria | 105 | 80 |
| North West London | 101 | 102 |
| Herefordshire and Worcestershire | 100 | 34 |
| Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West | 100 | 64 |
| Norfolk and Waveney | 96 | 82 |
| Coventry and Warwickshire | 91 | 67 |
| South West London | 90 | 75 |
| Sussex | 87 | 72 |
| Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire | 86 | 102 |
| North East London | 85 | 82 |
| South Yorkshire | 78 | 73 |
| Hampshire and the Isle of Wight | 78 | 89 |
| The Black Country | 76 | 80 |
| Somerset | 76 | 32 |
| Gloucestershire | 75 | 61 |
| Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin | 74 | 25 |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | 73 | 67 |
| South East London | 73 | 59 |
| Dorset | 72 | 62 |
| Mid and South Essex | 70 | 54 |
| Northamptonshire | 68 | 15 |
| Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent | 63 | 20 |
| Frimley | 61 | 28 |
| Lincolnshire | 49 | 55 |
| Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire | 45 | 54 |
| Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly | 44 | 46 |
| Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland | 42 | 34 |
| Kent and Medway | 36 | 82 |
| Devon | 31 | 89 |
| North Central London | 30 | 60 |
| Derby and Derbyshire | 22 | 60 |
| Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes | Provided FTE not headcount | 47 |
| Suffolk and North East Essex | Provided FTE not headcount | Provided FTE not headcount |
| Total | 4082 | 2662 |
The FOI was issued on 2 May and all responses were received by 26 July and was a series of stories released on Healthcare Leader in Autumn 2024.
