Neighbourhood health research

Despite the strong support across health and community sectors for a transition to neighbourhood and place-based, preventative health, we are aware that good examples of real-life practice are rare and often not new examples.   

Up and down the country, community-led approaches are being delivered which can support people with better management of chronic conditions, reduce hospital admissions and improve overall health and wellbeing. But because of the infancy of the work and/or lack of national profile (as a result of its scale) there is a lack of awareness, particularly of emerging approaches. 

To add to this, messaging and support with approaches to community-centred or led health and wellbeing, including the emerging work within the NHS, with particular regard to the part which Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams play, is inconsistent and in some cases poorly understood and/or mapped.   

Learning from one another is key to progress. As part of our foundational research phase, in collaboration with PPL, we will find and share new evidence on successful d approaches which are at a neighbourhood-level, community-led and involve integration with statutory services.  

The research will include two key components:  

a)    existing practices across ICSs  
b)    a case for change 

Neighbourhood working describes a way of working where neighbourhoods and statutory services work together to improve the health and wellbeing of their population. 

This section brings together a selection of case studies that build a picture of the current landscape of neighbourhood working in England. Deliberately diverse, the 14 examples cover a range of different communities, geographies and ways of working.  All are united by the commitment of those involved to transforming lives within local neighbourhoods and communities, through taking a different approach to improving health and wellbeing. 

The case studies include system-wide approaches, reflect the potentially powerful role of primary care and general practice, show communities at the heart of change, and demonstrate the role of voluntary and community sector (VCSE) organisations. 

To support those on a similar journey we have highlighted some of the key areas of focus and outcomes and included contacts for each example. If you can, please go to see these neighbourhood partnerships in action.  The results are truly inspiring.