Millions of people in 43 places across the country are set to benefit from improved care closer to home, as the government begins to roll out new neighbourhood health services.
Each of the 43 areas will be allocated a programme lead who will work with existing local services to set up a new neighbourhood health service.
The leads, using general practice as the cornerstone, will draw together a range of professions to develop a neighbourhood health team consisting of community nurses, hospital doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, paramedics, social prescribers, local government organisations and the voluntary sector.
Neighbourhood health will benefit patients by providing end-to-end care and tailored support, looking beyond the condition at wider causes of health issues, helping to avoid unnecessary trips to hospital, prevent complications and avoid the frustration of being passed around the system.
They will initially focus on supporting people with long-term conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, angina, high blood pressure, MS or epilepsy — in areas with the highest deprivation. As the programme grows, it will expand to support other patients and priority cohorts.
The wave 1 programme is backed by £10 million with the ambition to scale up more services over the course of the next year.
The 43 wave 1 sites have been selected as pioneer areas for neighbourhood health services. They will eventually bring health and care services such as diagnostics, mental health, outpatients, post-op, rehab, nursing and social care closer to home.
Pilots have proven the benefits of these initiatives, with data showing:
- in London, in its first year, a community heath scheme lowered A&E admissions by 7% and hospital admissions by 10%
- in Cornwall, an initiative lowered unplanned GP appointments by 7%, increased the likelihood of vaccination by 47%, and cancer screening and NHS health checks by 82%.
