Over the past decade, a key priority in health and care policy has been the development of integrated care and a focus on ‘place-based’ service delivery. More recently, in 2022, the Fuller Stocktake report set out a vision for integrating care at neighbourhood level by establishing teams of health and social care professionals working across organisational boundaries to improve the care of their population.
Integrated neighbourhood teams contribute to the wider programme of work being undertaken by providers, including Primary Care Networks (PCNs), to establish local services, tailored to local needs.
NHS England's 2024/25 Planning Guidance
The guidance emphasises the importance of progressing the agenda for integrated neighbourhood teams and key actions for systems include:
3 Key Lessons
Despite systems making progress in establishing integrated neighbourhood teams, achieving this goal and delivering the actions in the planning guidance can be challenging. Recently, we have been delighted to work with one system to advance their plans in this area. From this experience, we have identified three important lessons.
1. Build on the work already underway.
There are likely to be many initiatives and teams in place that have come from previous drives to increase care closer to home and improve community services. It is critical that these are identified, mapped and carefully considered in terms of any new model of care to ensure that the work is directly tailored to the system in question.
2. Engage and involve stakeholders using a range of methods.
Developing integrated neighbourhood teams involves collaboration between multiple stakeholders from different organisations. Using a range of engagement methods for people to have the chance to express their thoughts is a vital part of the process to understand the current state and future vision.
For some, a one-to-one meeting will be preferred; for others, the chance to express their thoughts before an audience can be empowering. Taking this nuanced approach is not always easy (it can take time) but it will ensure the development of a solution that everyone can buy into.
3. Establish effective leadership.
Multiple organisations will be involved in integrated neighbourhood teams but, ultimately, there will need to be one person with primary accountability for delivery. Identifying this individual is not always straightforward and there can be complexities around both governance and funding.
This leader may have a clinical or non-clinical background; what matters most is their ability to provide effective leadership by promoting the vision, plans and expected benefits. They should facilitate collaboration, find solutions, and prioritise the needs of those who use health and care services.
These key lessons, combined with the expertise and experience of our team, create a strong foundation for collaborating with other systems in developing plans for integrated neighbourhood teams.
If you would like to hear more about our work, and discuss how we can help you, please contact us.
