NHS Kent and Medway ICB has reforecast a near-£200m deficit for 2025/26, according to the latest board papers.
Board papers from the ICB’s meeting on Tuesday 3 February said the organisation is in the process of reforecasting, with a deficit of £198.0m.
The papers said £49.3m related to lost deficit support funding, while £148.7m related to adverse performance against plan.
In the report by chief executive Adam Doyle, the ICB’s financial position was described as ‘very serious’, citing ‘substantial shortfalls in the current year’s plan and ongoing deficits from previous years’.
The papers said that accounting firm EY had been commissioned to carry out a ‘drivers of the deficit review’ with a deadline of the end of January 2026 so it could inform future planning, as well as a ‘financial governance review’.
In addition, the ICB plans to recruit a system financial recovery director.
An NHS Kent and Medway spokesperson said: ‘Our Board has been clear for some time there were significant risks to delivery of a breakeven position. Earlier in the year, a range of mitigations were identified, but as 2025/26 progressed it became evident that these plans were not being delivered at the pace and impact required. This contributed to the deterioration in the overall financial position.’
The spokesperson said that the additional support it had brought in would ‘ensure we have a credible, deliverable, and sustainable financial plan for 2026/27’.
‘A deficit of this size is clearly very serious, and we are working closely with NHS England to understand the implications and agree the next steps. No decisions have been made about repayment profiles or timescales,’ they added.
On 28 January, Jonathan Wilson joined the ICB as chief finance officer. And, at the end of September 2025, Adam Doyle was appointed as chief executive.
In December, NHS England’s annual performance review of ICBs noted that ‘overall system balance was not achieved’ at Kent and Medway ICB. It said that, despite the allocation of non-recurrent support deficit funding, temporary staffing remained high and efficiency targets were not met.
It also noted that ‘the planned level of efficiencies to deliver balance are high and will require substantial collaborative work and strong governance to deliver’.
