Neighbourhood teams are essential to delivering neighbourhood health and care as set out in the national 10 Year Health Plan. These are multi-disciplinary teams who will work in local neighbourhoods in an integrated way.
These new teams will build on what already works and connect services to make care simpler, more personal, and easier to access, helping to shift care from hospitals into communities, where people live.
Neighbourhood teams bring together staff from the NHS, local councils, and voluntary organisations to work as one team in a local neighbourhood. They focus on the specific needs of people living in that neighbourhood, caring for the whole person and not just their medical needs.
Neighbourhood teams don’t replace existing services; they enhance and connect them, making it easier to get the right help, whether it’s health, social care, or community support. You won’t need to navigate multiple services or repeat your story.
For example, someone living with frailty might get coordinated support from a district nurse, social worker, housing officer, and a local befriending service, all working together through the neighbourhood team.
What they will do
- Work closely with communities to help people stay well and feel supported, shifting the focus from treating sickness to preventing illness and helping people stay well.
- Connect existing services, making it easier to get the right help without repeating your story, supported by shared digital records and better use of technology.
- Provide consistent, high-quality, person-centred care across all neighbourhoods, helping reduce unnecessary hospital visits and improving access to care closer to home.
Key ingredients of neighbourhood teams
- Use local data, feedback, and insight to understand and meet community needs, through advances in data and analytics
- Build strong relationships between NHS, councils, community and voluntary sector
- Provide care closer to home in accessible local places.
- Listen and involve people and local groups in shaping services
- Act early to prevent problems getting worse by focusing on prevention to improve healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities.
- Keep things simple so no chasing around different services
- Ensure fair support for everyone, no matter where they live
- Help people manage their health at home and avoid hospital when possible, using digital tools like the NHS App.