NHS Midlands and Lancashire is helping deliver the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme by equipping local systems with the tools, coaching and intelligence to reshape services and bring care closer to communities.

Background

Neighbourhood health is part of one of the key shifts in the 10-Year Health Plan – moving care from hospital into the community. The aim is to bring care closer to people by strengthening local partnerships and ensuring people receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

To accelerate this ambition, NHS England is recruiting 42 ‘Places’ across the country to take part in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme. Each Place represents a local health and care system committed to working differently with communities to improve outcomes and reduce pressure on traditional services.

Rather than providing seed funding to establish additional resources, Places will be expected to reshape existing resources to create sustainable, long-term change. By embedding new ways of working into everyday practice, the programme aims to avoid duplication, reduce demand on acute services, and create a culture shift that supports people to live well in their communities.

This is a high-profile, national large-scale change programme secured by our Horizons team and involves significant delivery from the Strategy Unit and ML colleagues, and the wider group CSU.

Action

Our role in the programme is twofold: providing the operational and strategic infrastructure to enable the programme to succeed and equipping Places with the skills and support to make change happen on the ground.

We have been mobilising since June, establishing the programme governance and operational frameworks for assurance, clarity and consistency for all stakeholders. Alongside this, we are training and deploying Improvement Coaches in each of the 42 Places. These coaches are critical to enabling change – helping local teams to test new approaches, build capability and adapt existing resources in sustainable ways.

To build momentum and collective learning, we are creating mechanisms for sharing information across Places. This ‘social movement’ approach allows best practice to spread beyond the programme’s boundaries, supporting not only the current cohort but also future Places that may join over time.

We are also developing an Intelligence Centre, led by our Strategy Unit, to assess impact and progress in each Place. This includes establishing baselines, gathering both quantitative and qualitative data and working directly with Places to understand what difference the programme is making. To ensure robust evaluation, we are working closely with Northumbria University, commissioned by NHS England as the national evaluation partner.

Impact

Places are at various stages of maturity towards the neighbourhood health goal. Some Places are already finding new ways to support communities, making better use of existing resources. Others are earlier on in the journey and will benefit greatly from structured support to apply tried and tested practices. Our Improvement Coaches are expected to play a vital role in this shift, building confidence among frontline staff and helping teams test new approaches and learn from implementing different ways of working.

The programme is also expected to impact cultural change. As Places move from a service-centred mindset to one focused on community outcomes and prevention, organisations will be able to collaborate better within the same system, and people will have more positive and joined-up experiences of care.

The Intelligence Centre will enable a deeper understanding of impact at both Place and national level. By capturing stories, data and learning, we are supporting not only programme evaluation but also ongoing improvement, where examples of success will be shared across the country via the social movement.

Perhaps most importantly, the programme creates a space for Places at different levels of maturity to learn from each other. Those with more established neighbourhood working models are providing insights and mentoring, while those earlier in their journey are gaining the confidence and practical tools to embed change.

Through our involvement, NHS Midlands and Lancashire has helped ensure that the ambition of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme is translated into meaningful change on the ground. The work will support people to live healthier, more independent lives; help staff feel connected and supported; and enable health and care systems to use resources more effectively.

For more information

For more information and to learn how we can help you, please contact us.