17th March 2026: The Department of Health and Social Care has published the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which sets out the next steps for the NHS and local government in England, working alongside civil society, to deliver a neighbourhood health service.
The DHSC states that:
‘Neighbourhood health puts the person at the centre of how we deliver their health and care by organising services so they can work together to serve a defined population. This includes the services that people rely on close to home and on the high street, such as GPs and community services and, where appropriate, urgent care, diagnostics and outpatients. This also includes local authority-commissioned services, such as adult and children’s social care and public health services.’
The framework outlines the five main aims of neighbourhood health:
- Improving people’s health and care outcomes, reduce health inequalities and help them stay well at home.
- Organising services around the person, with more convenient, personalised and joined-up care.
- Reduce avoidable demand on acute services – including hospitals and care homes.
- Cut waste and duplication – integrating services across health, local government and wider partners.
- Helping the NHS deliver against core targets.
Dr David Vickers, Chair of the British Association for Community Child Health (°Ù´ºÁ´), said, ‘The plan for neighbourhood health is welcome. We need to make sure children’s health services are part of this. Community Paediatricians work in partnership with schools, primary care and others and we welcome this extension of holistic health care’.
Read the Neighbourhood Health Framework in full:
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