Neighbourhood Health Academy Live Session:
Putting People at the Centre: Making Neighbourhood Health Work For People With Multiple Conditions
An interactive online session with The Richmond Group of Charities. Wednesday 8th July, 10 to 11am. Free to attend.
Intro
Neighbourhood health has no shortage of conversations about structures, governance, funding flows and estates. What it needs is a relentless focus on the people the system is there to serve.
The Richmond Group of Charities has just published Putting People at the Centre: Making neighbourhood health work for people with multiple conditions. It draws on interviews with 12 innovative service providers across England to set out the practical steps local leaders can take right now, without waiting for perfect data, complete datasets or extra resource.
Who are The Richmond Group of Charities?
The Richmond Group of Charities is a coalition of 15 of the largest health and social care charities in England, including Macmillan Cancer Support, the British Red Cross, Parkinson’s UK, Marie Curie and the Stroke Association. Between them they support millions of people living with long-term and multiple conditions. They have been working in local communities long before neighbourhood health became the policy term of the day, which is exactly why their practical learning is worth listening to.
What the report says:
The headline is simple, and harder to do than it sounds. Neighbourhood teams work when they are genuinely cross-sector, bringing together every agency involved in a person’s life rather than a group of NHS professionals working in a slightly different context. That means valuing and investing in the non-clinical roles who have the time to sit with the interaction between social and clinical need, and to help people regain agency over their own health.
The report is built around the Group’s five tests for neighbourhood health: proactive, coordinated, cross-sectoral and holistic, equitable, and person-centred. None of the 12 areas met all five perfectly. All of them found ways to lean into the art of the possible.
You Can Read the Report Here: Putting People at the Centre: Making neighbourhood health work for people with multiple conditions.
What happens on the day?
Policy Manager Beth Colliety will share the practical learning from the report, what worked, what got in the way, and what local leaders can take from it. That is followed by Q&A and open discussion with everyone in the room. This is a working session, not a broadcast, so bring your questions and your own experience.
The Details:
Wednesday 8th July, 10 to 11am, online via Zoom. Register below and we will send your joining link straight to your inbox.
Put your name down and we will send the Zoom link to your inbox.
Free To Join
Join The NeighBourHood Health Academy
Who it is for?
Anyone starting or involved with neighbourhood health work:
NHS leaders, VCSE organisations, local authority colleagues, GPs and practice teams, community health workers, commissioners and innovators who are figuring it out as they go.
You do not need to have the answers. You just need to be working on the questions.
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Neighbourhood Health Community
Frequently Asked Questions
No fees, no commitment. Let’s learn how we can work together.
What do you mean by Neighbourhood Health?
Neighbourhood health refers to organising health and care around smaller, local populations, with a strong emphasis on relationships, prevention, and coordination across services.
It brings together clinical care, community-based support, and local knowledge to respond to people’s needs earlier and more holistically. With a particular emphasis on managing those with complex, long-term, or multiple needs as well as reducing health inequalities in local populations.
Neighbourhood health is not a single model. It looks different in different places and must be shaped by local context.
How is Neighbourhood Health different from traditional NHS care?
Traditional NHS care is largely organised around acute (hospital) clinical pathways and clinical services. With patients diagnosed treated, escalated and exchanged between healthcare providers based on clinical assessments. It is predominantly a transactional model of healthcare with single lines of accountability aimed at processing patients efficiently.
Neighbourhood health instead focuses on place, relationships, and coordination across boundaries, connecting clinical pathways with community support, prevention, and ongoing care. It aims to respond earlier, reduce fragmentation, and support people over time rather than episodically.
Both are necessary. Neighbourhood health is an enhancement of clinical care, it does not replace it.
Why is Neighbourhood Health so important right now?
Demand, complexity, and inequality are rising faster than the NHS system can respond, through clinical care alone, resulting in waiting lists and delayed provision of healthcare.
There is recognition that we cannot treat our way out of current challenges. Without stronger local approaches that connect healthcare with community needs, the system risks remaining reactive, expensive, and overstretched.
Neighbourhood health is still forming. Decisions made now about models, governance, measurement and how services are provided and to whom, will shape the NHS and our society for years to come.
Are You Advocating For Natural Or Alternative Remedies Over Traditional Healthcare?
Absolutely not, we follow the advice of qualified medical experts first and foremost.
We do not endorse ever going against clinical advice. If there is a medical question we very strongly recommend speaking to a fully qualified clinician for expert advice and following it.
If in doubt call NHS 111 or see your GP.
What is this community?
This is an online, practitioner led learning community for people working on neighbourhood health.
It provides a space to share challenges, compare approaches, discuss evidence, and reflect on real world implementation, particularly where work spans clinical and community settings.
It is designed to support learning and capability building, not to prescribe solutions.
Are You Affiliated With The NHS
We are not an NHS body or a registered medical provider. We work independently of the NHS. If you are an NHS organisation contact and we will be happy to discuss if and how we can work together.
What does the community actually do?
The community supports:
- Relection on real world practical challenges of delivering neighbourhood health.
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Shared learning from real neighbourhood work
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Discussion of implementation challenges (governance, workforce, evaluation, collaboration, technology)
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Practitioner led working groups on specific topics
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Reflection on evidence, measurement, and improvement approaches
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Honest discussion of uncertainty and trade-offs
Who is it not for?
This community is not intended for:
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Sales, marketing, or lead generation
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Generic wellbeing or lifestyle content
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Political ideological positions
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Spaces focused on performance management or inspection
Is the community free to join?
Yes. There is currently no cost to join.
Why do I need to complete a quiz to join?
The short quiz helps us:
- Helps to design the community around members needs
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Understand who is joining and their context
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Keep the community relevant and psychologically safe
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Avoid sales activity and misalignment
It takes around five minutes and helps protect the quality of the space for everyone.
How do I join?
You can apply by completing the short quiz linked on this page. Applications are reviewed regularly, and we respond personally.