Government to roll out first neighbourhood health services in 43 places backed by £10 million
- The services will target working class areas with lowest life expectancy and longest waits - to tackle nation's stark and unjust health inequalities
- Plan for Change sees care shifted from the hospital to the community to deliver an NHS fit for the future
Millions of people in 43 places across the country are set to benefit from improved care closer to home, as the government begins to rollout 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 - giving people easier access to the right care and support on their doorstep.
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 programme builds on examples of local best practice highlighted in the 10 Year Health Plan, where some patients are already benefitting from a joined-up neighbourhood approach. This scheme will bring the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.
The wave one programme is backed by £10 million and will begin on 9 September 2025 with the ambition to scale up more services over the course of the next year. This first wave will cover 43 sites across England, from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the South West to Sunderland in the North East, ensuring communities nationwide can benefit from these new services.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:
We are building an NHS fit for the future, one that fits around peoples' lives and is an integral part of their community.
Neighbourhood health services fundamentally reimagine how the NHS works - bringing care closer to home while helping to tackle this nation's shameful health inequalities.
Through our Plan for Change, we will stop people from being bounced around a broken system as we get the health service back on its feet.
Here are two scenarios to demonstrate how neighbourhood health will work - to detail the pathway and care that people will receive:
'Frank', who has Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and diabetes, was trapped in cycles of hospital admissions and specialist appointments with different clinicians who didn't know his case.
Following the implementation of the Neighbourhood Health Service, Frank now has a coordinated care plan managed by his neighbourhood team. He uses the NHS App to share regular health readings and receives proactive medication adjustments. When his condition deteriorated recently, he received IV antibiotics at a local day unit rather than being admitted to hospital. His diabetes management has improved through health coaching linked to leisure centre activities.
Similarly, 'Veena', struggling with poor housing, mental health issues and concerns about her baby, relied on A&E for all her healthcare needs due to lack of coordinated support.
Veena now has direct access to same-day GP appointments through her neighbourhood team contact. When her GP needed specialist input for her baby, a paediatrician working with the team provided immediate consultation and agreed a monitoring plan. The team has also addressed her housing issues and connected her with local support groups, rebuilding her confidence and self-esteem.
Neighbourhood health will redesign and join-up existing health and care services - which currently can be fractured and a maze of referrals for patients. GP leaders will be pivotal in shaping and delivering these new services and will be supported to deliver it with two new contracts from 2026. These will enable them to work over larger areas to deliver neighbourhood health services to the community.
Under the new voluntary neighbourhood health contracts, GPs can choose to be part of either a single neighbourhood or multi-neighbourhood provider. A single-neighbourhood will deliver enhanced services for around 50,000 people - while a multi-neighbourhood provider will serve around 250,000 people.
The 43 'wave-one' 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.
The services will put people at their heart and connect with local communities, particularly those who face barriers in accessing traditional services.
The move will bring together leaders from across local healthcare, the voluntary sector, and the wider community to design services around communities, not organisations.
Data show:
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%.
Ruth Rankine, primary care director and neighbourhood lead at the NHS Confederation, said:
This welcome announcement marks the start of a major and very important shift in how care is delivered, and we are delighted to see so many of our members as part of the first wave.
This programme provides a vital opportunity to build on the strengths of local partnerships, community assets, and frontline innovation and we look forward to supporting systems and neighbourhoods in sharing learning, scaling best practice, and ensuring that improvements are inclusive, sustainable, and driven by the voices of local people.
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive, NHS Providers, said:
It's really positive that communities across England have been chosen to lead the way on neighbourhood health services. This is a pivotal moment as the NHS nationally embraces what the NHS locally has already started - transforming services to provide tailored healthcare to the people who need it most in their homes and local communities.
With the right funding the NHS and local partners will extend neighbourhood services even further, shifting care from hospitals to the community to deliver an NHS fit for the future.
Rachel Power, Chief Executive of Patients Association said:
Tackling health inequalities through the locations of the first neighbourhood health services is a strategic opportunity to address the unjust experience many patients have of the health system because of where they live. Locating services in more convenient places for patients can mean earlier support, quicker diagnosis, and fewer barriers to accessing vital treatment.
We call these sites to begin by committing to genuine patient partnership by ensuring communities have meaningful roles in the design and delivery of services they are placed to serve, listening to local voices and shaping services around people's real needs. Only by working hand in hand with patients can these centres start to reduce inequalities and deliver lasting improvements in care.
Jacob Lant, Chief Executive of National Voices, said:
Shifting care into neighbourhoods is the right ambition. People in communities with the most pressing health challenges need services designed with them, not done to them. We welcome the roll-out of neighbourhood health services and their focus on prevention, wrap-around support and care plans that reflect people's lives. To succeed, the NHS must work as an equal partner with local VCSE organisations and embed co-production from the outset, so the model removes barriers to access and improves everyday experience. Let's judge success by what people say and feel as well as clinical outcomes - that's how we'll build a fairer, future-fit NHS.
Vic Rayner, CEO of National Care Forum:
It is crystal clear that this fundamental shift from acute to community services can only be achieved with social care at its heart. The skills and expertise of care workers and those working in the VCSE will be paramount in the ensuring that health and care is viewed through the lens of the person. For these pilots to support a meaningful widespread transformation, it must lay the foundations for how to commission, fund and develop the strategic partnerships that will shape the neighbourhoods of the future.
Background information:
List of 43 sites:
- South and West Hertfordshire (Decorum and Hertsmere)
- North East Essex
- Ipswich and East Suffolk
- Barking and Dagenham
- Hillingdon
- Lambeth and Southwark
- Croydon
- Walsall
- Coventry
- Shropshire
- Leicestershire (West)
- Nottingham City
- North East Lincolnshire
- Stockton
- Rotherham
- Bradford and Craven (Bradford South, Keighley and Airedale)
- Sefton
- Rochdale
- Blackburn and Darwen
- East Berkshire and Slough
- Portsmouth
- East Kent
- East Surrey (Surrey Downs)
- Bristol (South Bristol)
- Cornwall and The Isles Of Scilly
- Dorset Place (Weymouth)
- West Essex
- West Suffolk
- Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster
- East Birmingham
- Solihull
- Herefordshire
- Sunderland
- Doncaster
- Wakefield
- Leeds (Hatch, South, East)
- St Helens
- Stockport
- Buckinghamshire (North, High Wycombe, Marlow Beaconsfield)
- East Sussex (Hastings and Rother)
- Woodspring
- Morecambe Bay
- Fenland, Peterborough and East, Peterborough
