Community Health Services: North East and Rural Areas

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we launched a 10-Year Health Plan. The plan will set out an agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.

We are committed to moving towards a Neighbourhood Health Service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems earlier, and support people to stay healthier and maintain their independence for longer.

Integrated care boards (ICB) are responsible for planning health services for their local area and are best placed to make decisions on care services in the community according to local need.

Neighbourhood Health Guidelines have been published alongside the 2025/26 NHS Operational Planning Guidance and 2025/26 Better Care Fund policy framework, published 30 January 2025, to help ICBs, local authorities, and health and care providers to continue to progress neighbourhood health in 2025/26, in advance of the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan.

We will provide further details of a National Implementation Programme in the coming months, designed for all parts of the health and social care system involved in delivering neighbourhood health. This programme will adopt a test and learn approach, to help identify what is working most effectively and the conditions required to deliver a set of target outcomes.

Community health services are an essential building block in developing a neighbourhood health service, working closely with primary care, social care, and other community services to provide more care in the community.