NHS England reveal buyer health rankings

In December 2023, NHS England revealed that NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS Trusts have been ranked into four segments (1-4) based on performance against six national themes outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.

For suppliers, this reveals how you should segment your target accounts:

• Buyers in segments 1 & 2: Financially stable with high autonomy. Opportunities for suppliers to pitch innovative solutions and develop new business cases.
• Buyers in segments 3 & 4: Face significant challenges. Focus on renewing existing contracts due to increased procurement oversight from NHS England.

Below, we reveal this segmentation data, sourced from NHS Oversight Framework, and showcase an interview with NHS advisor and Together Digital Co-Founder Liam Cahill, to help you effectively leverage this data in your 2024 strategies.

In the table below, we have ranked ICBs by their segment score. This information was accessed on NHS England on 31.01.2024.

Under this NHS Oversight Framework, NHS England have placed:

• 1 ICB in Segmentation Group 1 (2%)
• 14 ICBs in Segmentation Group 2 (33%)
• 23 ICB’s in Segmentation Group 3 (55%)
• 4 ICB’s in Segmentation Group 4 (10%).

Suppliers should expect ICBs in segmentation groups 1 and 2 to respond most favourably to proactive engagement over new solutions.

These organisations are generally under less scrutiny and have a greater degree of trust from NHS England to manage their own strategy and procurement.

For the majority of ICBs in segments 3, or 4, we recommend suppliers reach out to key decision makers to understand the reasons behind their segmentation score (i.e financial or performance based), the timeline of their recovery, and the level of oversight of NHS England.

In general, these organisations are prioritising their "turnaround", so expect these segments to be less receptive to new solutions, and focus your approach on identifying potential renewal opportunities, based on existing contracts.

England's 42 ICBs manage a combined total of 229 NHS Trusts across England. Each of these Trusts have also been assigned a segment, which may differ from the segment assigned to their governing ICB.

In the table below, we have ranked NHS Trusts by their segment. This information was accessed on NHS England on 31.01.2024.

Overall, NHS England has classified:

• 30 NHS Trusts into Segment 1 (14%)
• 85 NHS Trusts into Segment 2 (40%)
• 76 NHS Trusts into Segment 3 (36%)
• 19 NHS Trusts into Segment 4 (9%)

Overall, the NHS Trust segmentation provides a more favourable scenario than ICBs, with a majority (54%) in segments 1 and 2. Due to the co-ordinated decision making of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), the best Trusts to target are those in segments 1 or 2 with a governing ICB in the same segment.

In more complex situations where Trusts rated 1 or 2 are governed by ICBs in 3 or 4, we recommend engaging with key decision-makers across the ICS to better understand the financial and procurement landscape.

Stotles aids in this process by providing streamlined access to NHS decision makers, empowering suppliers to build relationships and gain intimate insights into each ICSs specific context.

Now you know how NHS England has segmented ICBs and NHS Trusts, how should you use this information in your NHS sales strategy? We spoke to healthcare expert Liam Cahill to understand his top 3 tips for suppliers:

Step one: The first step is to use this information and start focusing your approach towards buyers in favourable segments.

Step two: Dive deep into board meeting minutes to gain a deeper understanding of your buyers financial position and recovery timelines.

Step three: Leverage relationships with key decision makers to understand their segmentation position and their financial flexibility.

In this document, we have revealed the NHS Trusts and ICB's you should prioritise and avoid working with this year, based on NHS England's segmentation scores. 

Stotles customers are using Stotles to create focused lists of the top Trusts and ICBs in this dataset. From here, they are easily able to view upcoming opportunities, dive deep into strategic documents and identify decision-maker contacts to reach. Are you ready to take this next step in your NHS journey? Get started today with the links below.