Overview
Neighbourhood health is about bringing care into communities in the west Essex area – this includes Harlow, Epping and Uttlesford.
It is part of the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, which aims to change the way health and care services are provided to support people to live healthier, happier lives by preventing ill health. It will also help people take control of their health, so they stay well for longer, which in turn reduces pressure on urgent and emergency care services.
Neighbourhood health plays an important part in this plan, to:
- shift care from hospitals into the community
- prevent ill health where possible
- improve efficiency through digital transformation
Many of the ideas behind neighbourhood health may feel familiar, such as the ambition to bring services together in a more joined-up and consistent way. This will be done by the NHS, local councils, social care, and the voluntary sector, working together as one so people are supported to live and age well within their community.
West Essex is just one area of the country that is making neighbourhood health a priority. You can read more about the national programme on the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) website.
About neighbourhood health
Neighbourhood health isn’t just about illness and medicine. It is about how we approach health and care through working within and around the communities people live in.
Stress, loneliness, money worries and where you live all impact on whether people have good or poor physical and mental health. A focus on neighbourhood health will help create healthier, more resilient communities where people of all ages can live active, independent lives for as long as possible.
It is about:
- Care closer to home: convenient, integrated care that fits into people’s lives, provided near where they live and reducing the need for hospital visits. This includes services such as Hospital at Home and the West Essex Falls Car
- a holistic approach: looks at the whole person (physical, mental, social) and the community’s broader needs, not just medical conditions
- preventing ill health and providing early support: slowing deterioration and promoting wellbeing through community support
- addressing root causes: recognising that factors like green spaces, access to healthy food, and community connection are vital
- empowering communities: residents identifying problems they face and working with us to find solutions – contact us to become one of our health champions
- reducing fragmentation: joining up services (GPs, mental health, social care, voluntary groups) so support is managed better
- tackling inequalities: making sure everyone, no matter what their background, has the chance to receive the same level of care, support and services when they need it.
Finding a way to provide services within neighbourhoods will help create healthier, more resilient communities where people of all ages can live active, independent lives for as long as possible. That can only happen if all the organisations that are responsible for providing care work together and understand what people’s need.
To do this, professionals will work together in different ways, such as within Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs), where groups of professionals made up of the NHS, social care and voluntary organisations work to support people in local communities, reducing their need to go into hospital.
Our strongest asset is our accumulated wisdom. This is about a radical shift in how we approach health and care. The NNHIP starts with a simple reality – health is wider than healthcare and the vast majority of what shapes our health happens outside clinical settings.
It is more than a model, it is about a new way of delivering care. We know there is no one size fits all. This is about creating the right capabilities, leadership and enabling infrastructure in local places, transforming care with a focus on what matters most to people, measuring whole-person outcomes and hardwiring these changes.
Dr Minal Bakhai, General Practitioner, Director of Primary and Community Transformation and Improvement, Senior Responsible Officer for the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme.
Neighbourhood health at work in west Essex
Neighbourhood health is not new in west Essex.
We’ve been bringing care closer to home for frail and elderly people in our communities across Harlow, Epping and Uttlesford for some time now. By supporting people who have had a fall to stay in their own homes, our teams have helped them to recover at home rather than go into hospital.
Our INTs have already been looking after patients who have been identified by their GP practice as needing extra support to help them stay independent, and the Care Coordination Centre is a hub of professionals who assess how patients can be best cared for in the community based on their needs. This team works from St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping.
We are building on this great start and want to work with you, our staff and partners to create a fully functioning neighbourhood health programme that could include:
- moving more services into the community
- developing plans for neighbourhood health centres to meet your health and wellbeing needs
- developing services, reducing the need to go to hospital if you don’t need to, by offering earlier help and providing more personalised support in places easier for you to get to and use.
Get involved
We want to develop neighbourhood health in partnership with you and want to hear from as many people as possible, specifically:
- people who have multiple long-term conditions (eg. cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes) – to understand if services work for you, how we could improve them and the impact this could have on your life
- people who care for loved ones with long-term conditions but are not paid – to understand how you use health and care services and how we can support you
- people who live or work in west Essex – to explore different ways or working, to support residents to help them live and age well.
Look out for more information about how you can get involved and share your feedback.