The NHS Confederation and Local Trust are making the case for services to embrace community-led approaches to health.
Local Trust, in partnership with the NHS Confederation, has released foundational research today, exploring why health services in England need to work with and alongside communities, in the neighbourhoods where they live, in order to improve outcomes.
The case for neighbourhood health and care and Working better together in neighbourhoods are rooted in real-life examples of community-led initiatives from across the country.
One example is Northwood Together Big Local in Liverpool, who have significantly transformed the health and wellbeing of local residents, fostering community spirit and offering holistic, community-led support.
Northwood Together’s Shape Shifters programme began after lockdown, when local residents got in touch to say they were struggling with their mental health and weight gain. The programme has provided access to gym memberships, a nutritionist and personal trainer. As well as receiving weekly talks on topics including food preparation, meal ideas and mental health, participants have been able to make friends and have seen their overall wellbeing and confidence improve.
By connecting people with essential services and co-designing solutions, Northwood Together highlights how neighbourhood-based approaches can address health inequalities – something which is particularly important in our most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In these areas, health outcomes tend to lag behind other areas, especially those which lack civic assets, including voluntary and community groups and community centres.
Supporting the creation of such civic assets is protective of health. It should be part of a joint NHS and community-led approach which fosters and builds community assets, including skills and resources, as a means both of reducing service demand and securing better outcomes.
Margaret Bolton, Director of policy, research and communications at Local Trust, said:
“Our experience is that focusing on the neighbourhood level and fostering community-led services is the most effective way to improve health and wellbeing and to reduce health inequalities in the most deprived areas.
“Community leadership of services means they are closely tailored to people’s needs and aspirations and communicate in a way that resonates with them. They are therefore likely to achieve better outcomes.
“For example, peer leadership of smoking cessation groups or weight loss programmes tends to be more effective than professional leadership. Whilst the benefits of community involvement for mental health have been clearly demonstrated.”
Local Trust and the NHS Confederation are calling for the following key shifts in policy:
- A move away from rigid performance management and control towards more flexible, community-driven approaches.
- Longer-term contracts and funding arrangements to provide stability and allow local initiatives to flourish.
- A tolerance for work that may look less ordered and consistent than traditional models, but which reflects the realities of local adaptation.
- A balance between the need for standardisation and economies of scale with the equally important need for local ownership and innovation.
To arrange interviews, please contact: press@localtrust.org.uk
Find out more about the partnership and research on the NHS Confederation website.