At MIAA, we believe that strong partnerships between health and local government are key to delivering sustainable improvements in patient care and system efficiency. Our recent work with an NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) in the northwest of England perfectly illustrates this principle in action.

Tackling the Continuing Healthcare Backlog Together

The challenge was significant: a large backlog of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) case reviews affecting some of the most vulnerable patients in the system. To address this, MIAA has an established partnership with Multi Health Specialists Ltd (MHS), a clinically-led company founded by senior NHS professionals with deep expertise in All Age Continuing Care.

Together, MHS brings frontline clinical expertise and operational delivery, while MIAA contributes robust governance, financial insight, and project management. Since our partnership began in 2016, we’ve built a truly complementary support offer, focused on quality, compliance, and sustainable system change.

Together, we provided specialist clinical resources to complete a comprehensive assessment of the ICB’s NHS CHC case review backlog.

Our approach involved close collaboration between MIAA, the local authority, the ICB, and trusted clinical partners to deliver improvements in how CHC reviews are conducted in a multi-organisational setting.

The results speak for themselves. Over 1,100 patients have been reviewed and moved to safe, appropriate care packages, releasing more than £12.6 million in recurring savings for the ICB. More importantly, these outcomes were achieved with a governance model designed for sustainability, leading to project extension and ongoing success.

A whole-system effort

The ICB provided strategic direction and funding, while four local authorities played a critical role in joint working and social care assessments. MIAA ensured financial assurance and robust reporting, and MHS led clinical reviews, risk management, and maintained quality standards. Community partners including nursing homes, GPs, and NHS teams all contributed to patient continuity of care.

Early mobilisation was key. Bringing partners together in working sessions built shared understanding, clarified roles, and secured commitment. An Oversight Group and Operational Group kept the project on track, empowered decision-making, and resolved risks in real time.

Of course, challenges arose—accessing data, building trust, information governance, social worker capacity, and aligning urgency among partners. But a culture of collaboration, clear KPIs, regular communication, and empowered leadership helped us overcome these barriers.

Patient focus is key

At its core, this project has remained focused on the patients. The CHC framework, clinical values, and a “golden thread” of collaboration with accountability ensured that every decision and action prioritised quality, dignity, and doing the right thing for the people we serve.

Building on this success, we’ve expanded into two large neighbouring ICBs, tailoring our approach to local needs while maintaining consistent principles. This scalable, system-aware model continues to deliver value, sustainability, and improved outcomes.

Our work has been recognised with the HFMA Award for Collaboration and shortlisted for a Public Finance award—honours that reflect the quality and impact of this partnership.

This is more than just a backlog clearance project. It’s a blueprint for how cross-sector partnerships between health and local government can drive lasting change, better patient experiences, and stronger integrated systems.

At the end of the day, it’s about people—putting care at the heart of efficiency and improvement. When partners unite with shared purpose, strong governance, and clinical leadership, we unlock the potential to truly transform the way we deliver health and care services. 

Joyce Bowler from MHP and Ken Jones from MIAA will be speaking about their partnership work at the 5th CHC Conference, on 24^th June at the Leonard Hotel, Milton Keynes.