Neighbourhood health in action: communities leading change

To improve health and wellbeing, tackle growing demand and reduce health inequalities the NHS is shifting towards neighbourhood working and preventative care. To deliver this preventative, hyper local healthcare, health services must build local partnerships and support holistic community-led approaches to improving health outcomes.

But while communities are ready to act, they’re often excluded from long-term planning, facing structural barriers and funding constraints.

With funding and support from Local Trust and NHS Confederation, we’re currently working with six neighbourhoods across England to explore what is actually required to enable communities to take the lead in driving neighbourhood health. Each of the sites is building on their Big Local legacy and growing new partnerships with health and social care services in some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the country. 

The approach

We are supporting each neighbourhood site to conduct action research, working closely with them to understand their strengths and challenges, coach local leaders, and build cross-sector partnerships. This involves delivering a Community of Practice, where the sites can come together to share good practice, develop skills, and problem-solve. 

Generating learning

As well as working with the sites on the ground, we're also surfacing and synthesising learning from the frontline, generating insights to inform national neighbourhood health policy:  

• How can communities and health system partners come together to understand and respond to local health needs? 

• What does genuine partnership look like, and how do we support community leaders to have a seat at the table? 
   
• What do NHS organisations and others need to change to enable this way of working? 
   
• What are the practical barriers to success and how might we overcome them? 
   

We’ll share resources and learning as the programme progresses - get in touch if you’d like to find out more.