Health starts in the neighbourhood
This paper is based on the idea that conditions for good health are shaped by the communities where people live. It proposes three key shifts to rebalance the system toward prevention and giving communities a stronger voice.
Our health system is under growing pressure, from rising levels of long-term illness and inequality to overstretched services and staff. This report sets out a vision for a different approach: one that focuses on prevention, collaboration with communities, and a more sustainable model of care rooted in neighbourhoods.
Health starts in the neighbourhood is based on the idea that the conditions for good health are not predominantly shaped in hospitals or GP surgeries, but in the communities where people live. To reflect this, the paper proposes three key shifts:
- devolving health budgets and decision-making to the local level with dedicated funding for prevention
- delivering programmes through neighbourhood working in direct collaboration with communities
- creating a long-term fund to invest in the social infrastructure of the country’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
By rebalancing the system toward prevention and giving communities a stronger voice, this vision aims to decrease demand on clinical services, reduce health inequalities, and tackle the root causes of poor health in everyday life.
