Although a formal committee of Brighton & Hove City Council, the Health & Wellbeing Board has a remit which includes matters relating to the Integrated Care Board (NHS Sussex,) the Local Safeguarding Boards for Children and Adults and Healthwatch.

 

Title:

Introduction to Neighbourhood Health Agenda for Change

 

 

Date of Meeting:

3 March 2026

 

 

Report of:

Steve Hook Director Health & Adult Social Care,

Tanya Brown-Griffith- Director for Joint Commissioning, NHS Sussex

 

Areas of the report will be presented by representatives from the Neighbourhood Health Alliance (NHA) – Jess Thom, Katherine Saunders and Kate Pilcher.

 

 

Contact:  Chas Walker

 

 

 

Email:

Chas.walker@brighton-hove.gov.uk

 

 

Wards Affected: All

 

 

 

FOR GENERAL RELEASE

 

Executive Summary

The report covers:

From what we know from the new NHS long-term plan Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) will have an important role to play in delivering the ambition for neighbourhood health reform. This will include owning neighbourhood health plans and ensuring strong alignment across the NHS, social care, public health and other areas that affect health outcomes. With HWBs being responsible for signing off neighbourhood health plans, and retaining a role in the sign-off and oversight of reformed BCF plans, Boards will play a critical part in driving prevention, integration and place-based delivery.

This report provides the Board with an introduction to:

·       The national neighbourhood health plan

·       The Sussex Neighbourhood Health Framework

·       The new Sussex Neighbourhood Health Alliance

·       The expectation of Health & Wellbeing Boards in delivering the national neighbourhood heath agenda

Decisions, recommendations and any options

 

Brighton & Hove Health and Wellbeing Board is recommended to:

1.    Note the report

1.   Introduction to the national neighbourhood health plan       

1.1.        The National Neighbourhood Health Plan refers to a coordinated national effort to transform how health and care are delivered in England—shifting from a hospital centric model to community based, integrated neighbourhood health services.

1.2.        It is embodied through the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) and related government initiatives that support local “neighbourhood health teams” across England.

 Core Purpose

1.3.        The plan aims to:

·         Move care closer to home and reduce reliance on hospitals.

·         Support people to live healthier, more independent lives by addressing both clinical and wider social determinants of health.

·         Tackle health inequalities, particularly in areas with low life expectancy and high deprivation

 Key Features of the Neighbourhood Health Model

1.4.        Integrated, Multi-disciplinary/ Neighbourhood Teams that bring together

·         GPs

·         Community nurses

·         Hospital doctors

·         Social care workers

·         Pharmacists, dentists, optometrists

·         Paramedics

·         Social prescribers

·         Local government and voluntary sector partners

1.5.        These teams provide end to end, coordinated care, reducing fragmentation and duplication across services.

1.6.        Prevention & Early Intervention

1.7.        Services focus on:

·         Preventing deterioration of long-term conditions

·         Early identification of risk factors

·         Addressing root causes such as housing, education, employment, and social support

·         Community Powered Care

1.8.        The plan promotes a shift from “institutional power to community power,” emphasising:

·         Co design with communities

·         A biopsychosocial approach

·         Strength based models of care

 National Programmes and Rollout

1.9.        National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP)

1.10.     A large scale programme supporting places across England to adopt neighbourhood health approaches.

1.11.     Uses learning from areas already demonstrating improvements (e.g., reduced emergency admissions and improved self management).

1.12.     From September 2025, 42 pilot sites were selected to accelerate development with national support and shared learning (for Sussex this was Hastings & Rother) .

1.13.     Government Backed Rollout

1.14.     Initial focus: people with highest and ongoing health needs and long term conditions (diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, MS, epilepsy), especially in deprived areas.

1.15.     Link to the 10-Year Health Plan

1.16.     Neighbourhood health forms a central pillar of the government’s 10 year strategy, aiming to:

·         Shift resources from hospitals into the community

·         Improve integration between NHS, local authorities, and voluntary/community organisation

Anticipated Outcomes

1.17.     The plan intends to deliver:

·         Improved patient experience through joined-up, personalised care

·         Reduced emergency hospital admissions

·         Greater patient agency in managing their own conditions

·         More sustainable health and social care systems

·         Reduced inequalities across regions and communities

In Short

1.18.     The National Neighbourhood Health Plan is a major structural reform of English health and care services, built on integration, prevention, community partnership, and local empowerment. It aims to create healthier communities and deliver care that is more timely, more personal, and closer to home.

2.   The Sussex Neighbourhood Health Framework

2.1.        NHS Sussex has developed a Sussex Neighbourhood Health Framework which sets out a commissioner‑led model in which the Integrated Care Board (ICB) defines the outcomes, standards and enabling infrastructure required for neighbourhood delivery, rather than specifying operational models. Strategic commissioning is expected to enable neighbourhood health by establishing a consistent framework including population cohorts, agreed outcomes, and an expectation that delivery is data led through population health management.

2.2.        Appended to this report is a more detailed summary of the Sussex Neighbourhood Health Framework.

2.3.        Neighbourhood health is about care centred around population needs and care shifting from acute hospitals to community settings. The ethos is to support people to live healthier, more independent lives for as long as possible through integrated working across NHS, local government, social care, hospices, VCSE, and other partners as the norm, not the exception.

2.4.        The ICB’s role includes commissioning and maintaining system enablers such as risk stratification, shared care records, and neighbourhood‑level metrics dashboards, alongside place‑based facilitation and coordination to support implementation. The framework is explicit that strategic commissioning should ensure equity of ambition and consistency of expectations across Sussex, while allowing flexibility in local delivery, with accountability focused on improved population outcomes.

2.5.        The co-produced and published NHS Sussex Commissioning Intentions 2026-27 reinforce strategic commissioning for neighbourhood health and is explicit that commissioned neighbourhood services must deliver a proactive core offer for people with high and ongoing needs, address health inequalities, and contribute to measurable reductions in avoidable emergency admissions.

2.6.        The ICB is delegating delivery responsibility for neighbourhood health to the Neighbourhood Health Alliance by commissioning it as the vehicle responsible for organising and delivering the neighbourhood health framework. The ICB sets a clear expectation that Integrated Community Teams (ICTs) will contribute to a reduction in avoidable emergency admissions of 10% by 30 March 2027, using October 2025 as the baseline, with each ICT required to submit trajectories for review and approval by the ICB. Additionally is expected to contribute to a 15% increase in uptake of vaccinations & screening in underserved communities.

 

3.   Introduction to the new Sussex Neighbourhood Health Alliance

3.1.        Key leaders in the new Sussex Neighbourhood Health Alliance will attend the Board meeting and support the agenda item. Appended to the report is Neighbourhood Alliance Integrated Community Teams implementation update and Neighbourhood Alliance Delivery Plan 2026-27

3.2.        The Sussex Neighbourhood Health Alliance (The Alliance) is not a single formal organisation, but rather the collective system-wide approach across Sussex to redesign health and care around neighbourhoods. The Alliance is still a very new structure and so in its formation stage.

3.3.        The Alliance approach seeks to transform how care is organised so services are: Integrated across organisations, reducing fragmentation and duplication. More preventive, shifting from reacting to ill health to supporting wellbeing and early intervention. Delivered closer to home, reducing reliance on hospitals and long inpatient stays. Responsive to neighbourhood-level needs, with planning shaped by local population data

3.4.        The Alliance is made up of the following NHS organisations as core members:

·         Sussex Community Foundation Trust

·         East Sussex Health Trust

·         Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust

·         Sussex Primary Care Collaborative (collaborative structure for primary care across Sussex)

3.5.        It is the intention of The Alliance to enter into a Management of Understanding with the three upper tier Local Authorities in Sussex, Sussex Hospice Alliance and the Sussex Voluntary Sector Alliance, so all community partners that are part of the Sussex Integrated Care Partnership have a level of representation on The Alliance

3.6.        The work of The Alliance is delivered primarily through 15 Integrated Community Teams (ICTs) that bring together health, social care, community services, and voluntary sector partners to provide joined-up, proactive, local care at a neighbourhood level (a neighbourhood is defined as populations from (50,000 to 100,000)

3.7.        It is anticipated that the Alliance will formally be contracted by the ICB to deliver the NHS Sussex commissioning Intentions for Neighbourhood Health and the formal structure for this will emerge as the new Surrey and Sussex ICB takes shape.

3.8.        Over the last year the Alliance has focused on:

·         Building stronger collaborations across NHS partners and with Local Authorities and the Sussex Voluntary Sector Alliance

·         Leading the development of the Sussex Highest & Ongoing Needs Programme

3.9.        Looking forward over the next 12 months, the Alliance will be focused on

·         Supporting the delivery of the NHS Sussex Commissioning Intentions to reduce avoidable admissions by 10%. The Alliance will do this through delivering the aims of the Sussex Highest & Ongoing Needs Programme

·         The Alliance will support the development of the 15 Integrated Community Teams across Sussex measured through the Maturity Matrix approach

·         The Alliance will finalise the Management of Understanding with Local Authorities and Sussex Voluntary Sector Alliance to ensure inclusion of all core partners in the delivery of the Sussex Neighbourhood Health Framework

·         The Alliance will oversee the neighbourhood health transformation fund detailed in the NHS Sussex Commissioning Intentions

 

4.   The expectation of Health & Wellbeing Boards in delivering the national neighbourhood heath agenda

4.1.        Detailed national guidance on the delivery of neighbourhood health reform, as set out in the new NHS Long-term Plan, has not been published, but is expected in the spring. This guidance will provide far more detail on the formal role of Health & Wellbeing Boards (HWB’s) in the local governance and delivery of neighbourhood health

4.2.        What we are expecting is that HWB’s will need to produce a Place-based neighbourhood health plan, working closely with wider System partners like The Alliance and the new Surrey & Sussex Integrated Care Board.

4.3.        We know that the Better Care Fund will also be reformed becoming the Integrated Care Funding Framework in 2027/28 and will be expected to align with HWB’s Neighbourhood Health Plans to ensure appropriate direction of these resources to support the Neighbourhood Health reform agenda.

4.4.        The Brighton & Hove HWB is already preparing for these changes. We have engaged the LGA to support Board development, and we will be refreshing our Health & Wellbeing Strategy for the city in line with the national priorities for neighbourhood health and building on the evolving work of our local Integrated Community Teams.

4.5.        Through the recent assessment of the maturity of local ICTs across Sussex, our three neighbourhood ICTs scored well showing good momentum and growing maturity across the local partnerships. All three ICTs are in a process of developing local neighbourhood plans for their areas of the city and it is anticipated that these plans will feed into the requirement for a Place-based neighbourhood plan

 

 

5.   Important considerations and implications

 

            Legal:

 

As described in the body of this report, neighbourhood health reform is one of the key elements of the new NHS 10-year Health Plan. National guidance emanating from the Plan has yet to be published but is expected to specify the requirements of the HWB on the delivery of neighbourhood health reform. This introductory report is for noting only by HWB

 

Lawyer consulted:           Sandra O’Brien                           Date: 18/02/2026

 

 

            Finance:

 

The Neighbourhood Health Reform and Neighbourhood Health Plan will ensure strong alignment across the NHS, social care, public health and community services. It’s aims include delivering care that is more timely, more personal, and closer to home.

 

This will inform priorities, budget development and the Medium-Term Financial strategy of the partner organisations, including the Better Care Fund. This requires a joined-up process for budget setting in relation to all local public services where appropriate, and will ensure that there is an open, transparent and integrated approach to planning and provision of services. Any changes in service delivery for the council will be subject to recommissioning processes and will need to be delivered within the available budget.

 

 

Finance Officer consulted: Sophie Warbton  Date: 18/02/2026

 

 

Equalities:

 

Health inequalities are a significant priority across all neighbourhood health plans

 

 

Sustainability:

.

N/A

 

Health, social care, children’s services and public health:

 

Are all partners in the Integrated Care Partnership and will have shared accountability for the delivery of a Place-based neighbourhood plan

 

6.   Supporting documents and information