- Groundbreaking neighbourhood health services to be delivered
in most deprived areas first where healthy life expectancy is
lowest
- Government hits ground running on delivering 10 Year Health
Plan, beginning in deprived communities with greatest need
- Pioneering neighbourhood health teams will focus on patients
with multiple long-term conditions and more complex issues
People living in the most deprived communities across the country
are set to benefit from new neighbourhood health services as
the government takes the first steps in the rollout today
(Wednesday 9th July), making care more convenient and
reducing health inequalities.
Central to the 10 Year Health Plan, the services will bring NHS
care closer to home and provide better support for people with
complex conditions, keeping them well and avoiding unnecessary
hospital trips. One example is Team Up Derbyshire – an initiative
which links up GPs, social workers, home carers and nurses to
support people who need care in their own homes – bringing the
best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.
The government has hit the ground running on delivering the plan,
today writing to health chiefs and local authority chief
executives, urging them to team up with local health and care
providers, voluntary groups, and members of their communities to
accelerate the rollout of the services across the country.
They have been asked to submit applications – outlining examples
of joined-up working and innovation in their areas - to join
phase one of the neighbourhood health programme.
This will prepare local partnerships to take on responsibility
for more neighbourhood services in their area. It will see
successful applicants join an intensive a national coaching
programme over the summer including major workshop days that
bring together experts, GPs and their teams, patients, the
voluntary sector and local authorities.
Health and Social Care Secretary said:
“Our 10 Year Health Plan committed to building a Neighbourhood
Health Service, and we're hitting the ground running on
delivering it.
“If we are to get patients cared for faster, on their doorstep
and even in their own home, then we need to shift the focus of
the NHS from hospitals to the community. Today, we are issuing an
open invitation to local authorities and health services to
become pioneer Neighbourhood Health Services and lead the charge
of healthcare reform.
“As part of our Plan for Change, we're beginning the
Neighbourhood Health Service in areas of greatest need first, to
tackle the unfair health inequalities that blight our
country.”
From September, the first 42 sites will then immediately start
rolling out their neighbourhood health programmes, with clear
guidance, support and metrics to report on regularly.
The department and NHS England will work with over 40 places
across the country and ensure each region is covered by the
programme. The services will be prioritised in working class
areas where healthy life expectancy is lowest, targeting
communities with the greatest need first.
After years of neglect, areas where people need the NHS most
often have the fewest GPs, the worst performing services and the
longest waits. People in working-class areas and coastal towns
spend more of their lives in ill health, and life expectancy
among women with the lowest incomes has fallen in recent years,
after decades of progress.
Neighbourhood health services will bring together teams of
professionals to focus on patients with multiple long-term
conditions and people with complex needs.
A joint taskforce has been set up between the Department of
Health and Social Care and NHS England to drive progress, chaired
by Sir John Oldham and made up of NHS leaders, local authority
bosses, and other key figures from the voluntary sector and
health and care organisations.
In addition to the neighbourhood health services that will begin
in September, the government is also working to deliver
neighbourhood health centres across the country over the course
of the government's 10 Year Health Plan to rebuild the NHS.
Pioneering teams - some based entirely under one roof – will be
set up in local communities to dramatically improve access to the
health service, and will include staff like nurses, doctors,
social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative
care staff, and paramedics. Community health workers and
volunteers will also play a pivotal role in these teams.
Millions of patients will be treated and cared for by teams of
health professionals, and in years to come, local neighbourhood
health centres will relieve pressure on overstretched hospitals
and provide cutting edge, personalised care. Eventually these
health centres will be open 12 hours a day, 6 days a week within
local communities, and will not only bring historically
hospital-based services into the community - diagnostics,
post-operative care and rehab - but will also offer services like
debt advice, employment support and stop smoking or weight
management, all of which will help tackle issues which we know
affect people's health.
