The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) has this evening (July 2) revealed plans to “bring the NHS closer to home” by launching “neighbourhood health services” across the country.
New “neighbourhood health centres” – open at evenings and weekends - will see services such as diagnostics, mental health, post-op, rehab and nursing housed under one roof, it said.
The centres will be staffed by “pioneering teams” including staff such as pharmacists, nurses, doctors, dental staff, social care workers, health visitors, palliative care staff and paramedics, as well as community health workers and volunteers, it added.
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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”, it said.
However, it remains unclear how many of these centres will be opened, where they will be located and when they will be rolled out.
It comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to launch the government’s highly anticipated 10-year health plan tomorrow – which is expected to flesh out more detail around the plans.
Weight management
The DH said that the centres “will eventually be open 12 hours a day, six days a week within local communities”.
As well as bringing “historically hospital-based services into the community”, they will also offer services like debt advice, employment support and stop smoking or weight management, it added.
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“The status quo of ‘hospital by default’ will end, with a new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can: digital-by-default, in a patient’s home where possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, in a hospital if necessary,” it said.
And it revealed that neighbourhood health teams have been trialled in England, such as in Derby, where they have significantly reduced hospital use.
“Brand new era”
The DH said that the 10-year plan “delivers a brand new era for the NHS and one of the most seismic shifts in care in the history of the health service”, while the centres will “dramatically improve access to the NHS”.
By providing “easier, more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services right on people’s doorsteps”, they will “free up overstrained hospitals from perpetual firefighting so they can focus on delivering only the best, most cutting-edge, and personalised care”, it added.
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Starmer stressed that it is “reform or die”, with the new plan to “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”.
And he added that there is “more to come”, with the government “giving patients easier, quicker and more convenient care wherever they live”.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said that the plan “will turn the NHS on its head” by shifting care from hospital to the community.
“Just the beginning”
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) chief executive Janet Morrison stressed that the plan “is not the end of the road” but “just the beginning”.
“The government’s plan aligns well with the value that pharmacies can bring and will begin to harness the sector’s potential for the benefit of patients, communities and the wider NHS,” she said.
But she added that the government “must deliver on its commitment to build the sustainable funding model that community pharmacy so desperately needs” before the plan “can become a reality”.
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National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Henry Gregg said that pharmacies “share the government’s ambition to bring care closer to people” and “want to work with GPs, social workers and colleagues across the health service to provide better health care”.
He stressed that pharmacies must be “placed at the heart of these plans” and that investing in the sector “can create a future where people can drop in for treatment, check-ups, medicine reviews and advice”.
The NPA also said that just under half (44%) of 2,000 adults polled last month support the NHS making weight loss injections free through their community pharmacy, following reports suggesting that this could form part of the plan revealed tomorrow.
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Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said that the 10-year plan “marks a positive step forward” by recognising pharmacists’ “vital role”.
But she stressed that “if pharmacies are to take on more responsibilities - such as greater prescribing, delivering more vaccinations and further managing long-term conditions - then proper funding must follow” as well as “clear safeguards to ensure that automation does not come at the expense of patient care or access”.
Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison said expanding the Pharmacy First service and incorporating independent prescribing into the new neighbourhood health service “is a no-brainer”.
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“With the right investment and integration into neighbourhood health services…pharmacy teams can play a transformative role in improving population health and enabling better care across the NHS,” Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) director of pharmacy Elen Jones added.
And NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor stressed that delivering on the government’s ambition “will require sustained investment in digital and estates, support for the NHS’s workforce and a commitment to decentralise national control by empowering local leaders”.
An NHSE official last month said that while GPs will play a “very” central role in the 10-year health plan, the role of community pharmacy is “increasingly emerging” and needs to “grow”.
Check the C+D site for the latest on this developing story
