Major revamp planned for the NHS – including a new neighbourhood model
Millions of patients will be treated and cared for closer to their homes by new teams of health professionals, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced.
On Thursday (3 July), Starmer will launch the Neighbourhood Health Service, which will see teams set up in local communities across the country to dramatically improve access to the NHS.
As part of the government’s aim to shift care out of hospitals and into the community, these teams aim to free up overstrained hospitals from perpetual firefighting so they can focus on delivering cutting-edge and personalised care.
These neighbourhood health centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services right on people’s doorsteps, stopping them from having to make a lengthy trip to hospitals. Neighbourhood teams will include staff like nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative care staff, and paramedics.
Community health workers and volunteers will play a pivotal role in these teams, and local areas will be encouraged to trial innovative schemes like community outreach door-to-door to detect early signs of illness and reduce pressure on GPs and A&E.
New health centres will house the neighbourhood teams, which will eventually be open 12 hours a day, six days a week within local communities.
They 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.
“The NHS should be there for everyone, whenever they need it. But we inherited a health system in crisis, addicted to a sticking plaster approach, and unable to face up to the challenges we face now, let alone in the future,” said Starmer.
“That ends now. Because it’s reform or die. Our 10-Year Health Plan will fundamentally rewire and future-proof our NHS so that it puts care on people’s doorsteps, harnesses game-changing tech and prevents illness in the first place.
“That means giving everyone access to GPs, nurses, and wider support all under one roof in their neighbourhood – rebalancing our health system so that it fits around patients’ lives, not the other way round.”
