Neighbourhood Health: The Future of Healthcare is Already Happening in Our Communities

By Tracy Hopkins, Chair, LSC VCFSE Alliance, Partner Member LSC ICB, CEO Citizens Advice Blackpool and Non-Executive Director Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

This week I attended an Integrated Care Board (ICB) leadership session focused on one of the most important developments in health and care reform for a generation: Neighbourhood Health.

As senior leaders from across Lancashire and South Cumbria come together to discuss how we deliver this agenda, I wanted to reflect on what Neighbourhood Health means for our sector and why the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector must be recognised as a central partner in its success.

The truth is simple: Neighbourhood Health cannot succeed without a strong, sustainable and properly resourced VCFSE sector.

So, what is Neighbourhood Health?

The vision is ambitious. The NHS is seeking to move from a system that largely responds to illness to one that proactively supports people to stay healthy, independent and connected within their communities.

Neighbourhood Health Centres will become community-based hubs bringing together GP services, nursing, pharmacy, mental health services, allied health professionals and prevention programmes under one roof. They will create integrated teams focused on improving population health, reducing inequalities and supporting people to remain well at home wherever possible.

Alongside this, there is a strong emphasis on:

• Prevention and early intervention
• Reducing avoidable hospital admissions
• Supporting people closer to home
• Tackling health inequalities
• Improving access through digital innovation
• Developing integrated neighbourhood teams
• Empowering people to manage their own health and wellbeing

The goals are compelling: better health outcomes, improved patient experience, reduced pressure on hospitals and more cost-effective services.

But as I read the plans, I am struck by one important thought:

Much of this is already happening across our communities every day.

The VCFSE Sector: The Missing Piece or the Foundation?

When policymakers talk about supporting people at home, reducing health inequalities, improving mental wellbeing, encouraging healthier lifestyles, building trusted relationships and strengthening communities, they are describing the work that VCFSE organisations have been delivering for decades.

Every day across Lancashire and South Cumbria, community organisations are:

• Supporting people with long-term health conditions
• Tackling loneliness and social isolation
• Delivering community-based mental health support
• Supporting carers
• Running wellbeing groups
• Providing social prescribing activities
• Supporting people with housing, welfare and financial worries
• Delivering physical activity and healthy lifestyle programmes
• Building trusted relationships with those least likely to engage with statutory services

Many of these organisations are already working at neighbourhood level, understanding local needs, building community resilience and providing the personalised, preventative support that the health system is now seeking to embed.

Neighbourhood Health should not be seen as something being introduced to communities.

In many places, it is something communities have been leading for years.

Prevention Starts Long Before a Clinical Intervention.

The Neighbourhood Health model rightly places significant emphasis on prevention.

We know that people's health is shaped by far more than medical care alone. Housing, income, employment, social connections, physical activity, confidence and community belonging all influence health outcomes.  Our ICB have recently started to call these ‘Central Determinates of Health’, rejecting the often used ‘Wider Determinates’ terminology.  A welcome shift, in my opinion.

The VCFSE sector works across these central determinants of health every day.

A link worker checking on an isolated resident, a local charity running a walking group, a faith organisation providing food support, a community centre offering wellbeing activities, an adviser helping someone in poor housing or a social enterprise helping people into employment are all contributing to better health outcomes and reducing future demand on services.

These interventions may not always be labelled as healthcare, but they are often some of the most powerful forms of prevention available.

Integrated Neighbourhood Teams Must Include the VCFSE Sector.

As Integrated Neighbourhood Teams evolve across Lancashire and South Cumbria, it is vital that the VCFSE sector is not viewed simply as a referral destination.

We must be recognised as equal partners in planning, design and delivery.

Neighbourhood Health is built on relationships, trust, local knowledge and community engagement. These are areas where the VCFSE sector has significant strengths.

If neighbourhood teams are to truly understand the needs of local populations, particularly those experiencing the greatest inequalities, then VCFSE organisations must be around the table from the outset.

Not as an afterthought.

Not as an add-on.

But as core partners.

Sustainability Matters.

Whilst there is enormous enthusiasm for the opportunities that Neighbourhood Health presents, there is also an important question that cannot be ignored.

How do we ensure the VCFSE sector has the capacity and sustainability to deliver its role?

For many organisations, demand continues to grow whilst funding remains short-term, fragmented and uncertain. I know this first hand, as raising fund to sustain the vital services Citizens Advice Blackpool provide is one of the things that can keep me awake at night. 

We cannot continue to expect community organisations to absorb increasing levels of responsibility and need without corresponding investment.

If the health and care system genuinely wants to shift activity from hospitals into neighbourhoods, then investment must follow that ambition.

A sustainable Neighbourhood Health model requires:

• Long-term commissioning approaches
• Fair and proportionate funding
• Investment in community infrastructure
• Support for workforce development
• Recognition of the full social value delivered by VCFSE organisations

Neighbourhood Health should not simply shift activity into communities; it should also shift resources to the organisations delivering that work.

A New Political Environment.

The current political landscape also creates an important opportunity.

The growing focus on place-based leadership, prevention and community empowerment reflects principles that many within the VCFSE sector have championed for years.

The emphasis on local solutions, local relationships and community action aligns strongly with the concept of Neighbourhood Health.

At its heart, this agenda recognises that lasting improvements in health are not achieved through institutions working in isolation. They are achieved through collaboration between public services, businesses, communities and local organisations, all working around the needs of people and places.

That is the environment in which the VCFSE sector thrives.

A Collective Opportunity.

As we continue conversations across Lancashire and South Cumbria, I believe we have a unique opportunity.

Neighbourhood Health is not simply an NHS programme.

It is a whole-system transformation that depends on the strengths of communities, the expertise of local organisations and the power of partnership.

The challenge for all of us is to ensure that the VCFSE sector is not viewed as supporting the Neighbourhood Health agenda from the sidelines.

We are central to it.

Indeed, in many ways, the sector has been demonstrating what neighbourhood health looks like long before it became national policy.

Now is the time to build on that legacy, strengthen our partnerships and ensure that communities remain at the heart of the future health and care system.

Because if we get Neighbourhood Health right, we will not simply reduce pressure on hospitals—we will help create healthier, stronger and more connected communities for generations to come.