Neighbourhood based care board update – October 2025
The Neighbourhood Based Care Board oversees the transformation towards a neighbourhood-based model of care, making services more proactive, joined-up, and responsive to the needs of local communities. Discussions at the October meeting included:
- Development of neighbourhood health centres
- Staff activation plans
- Quarterly progress reports
- Learning system proposal
Development of neighbourhood health centres
Neighbourhood health centres are a central part of delivering integrated neighbourhood care as set out in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan. They are designed to bring together multi-disciplinary teams into local hubs that provide joined-up, person-centred support.
A national working group has developed five models, ranging from refurbishing existing buildings to fully virtual centres. These are not simply enhanced GP practices, but hubs that co-locate diagnostics, community services, VCFSE organisations, and other public services.
In south east London (SEL), mapping of potential hub sites is underway across all six boroughs, with Greenwich used as an example of how boroughs can assess and prioritise locations. The Greenwich approach includes evaluation criteria aligned with the London Target Operating Model and SEL estates strategy and is being used to guide borough-level workshops.
A SEL-wide approach will be undertaken, using the Greenwich evaluation criteria, to ensure consistency and support decision-making around prospective neighbourhood hubs. This process will provide a clear picture of the status of hub identification across SEL, highlight areas of alignment and variation between places, and offer a system-wide understanding of what is needed to progress the development of functional neighbourhood hubs.
Staff activation
A staff activation approach has been developed to help with system wide staff engagement on neighbourhood development. The purpose is to ensure staff feel informed, involved and supported as neighbourhood working evolves and so we can build a shared understanding of what it means for different roles.
This phased approach includes:
- Phase 1: Raise awareness
- Phase 2: Educate and empower
- Phase 3: Enable and embed
A communications toolkit has been developed to support with raising awareness and understanding. This will be made available to employing organisations and includes FAQs, messaging and slides. The toolkit will continue to develop with additional resources for local use. SEL-wide staff information webinars will be offered to provide information on neighbourhood working.
Quarterly programme management report (PMO) – progress and shared challenges
The quarterly PMO updates provide a comprehensive update from all six boroughs and the SEL-wide workstreams that are supporting implementation of neighbourhood working.
Over the last three months – the key themes include:
- Integrated neighbourhood team (INT) pilots are live or imminent in Bexley, Lewisham, Southwark, and Greenwich.
- Workforce mobilisation is progressing, with recruitment and training underway.
- Estates mapping is advancing, with hub sites being identified in most boroughs. (See item 1)
- Work continues to improve access to shared care records and enable tools like Ardens and the Universal Care Plan.
- Clinical governance workshops held; organisational development support being scoped with integrator hosts.
- A population health management service specification is being developed which will include consideration of how to support neighbourhood planning and delivery.
- Local Child Health Teams are being used as a stepping stone to developing children and young people INTs, with engagement and framework development underway.
Learning system proposal
A system-wide learning environment has been approved to support the rollout of INTs. Given the radical change they represent to existing ways of working, early implementation will involve experimentation to understand what is and what is not working, and to explore ways of overcoming challenges. A ‘test and learn’ approach will ensure INTs are delivering impact in the right places, create space for failure, and help to understand the effects of each new iteration of the model. This will be underpinned by shared principles, mechanisms for capturing insights, and a framework for continuous improvement, co-designed with integrator partnerships and place leads.
The learning system will:
- Enable peer learning across boroughs
- Support iterative improvement through plan, do, study, act cycles
- Provide real-time feedback to inform decision-making.
Whilst the initial focus is on INTs, the learning system may expand over time to support other elements of the neighbourhood health service. The approach will help us understand what works, for whom, and in what context, supporting the scaling of effective neighbourhood working across south east London.
A workshop will be held with integrator partnerships across our six boroughs to consider how best to take this work forward collectively.