NHS England has issued guidance for regions and ICBs setting out practical planning instructions for developing neighbourhood health centres, highlighting the role of digital in connectivity, integration, and enablement.
“Digital capability is fundamental to the functioning of neighbourhood health services,” NHSE shares. “Neighbourhood health centres must therefore be planned as digitally enabled facilities, in line with the approach set out in the neighbourhood health centres design specification. Costings for proposed schemes should reflect this.” ICBs and regions are encouraged to look at the interaction between their physical estate and digital transformation as part of the planning process, with key factors including the possibility of a reduction in space requirements due to modern general practice models, and requirements for the neighbourhood workforce to have access to shared digital systems.
NHSE notes that progress is about consolidating and better using existing estate as much as creating new facilities. Whilst some may not be supportive of modern patient care, it continues, other estate may have the potential to offer additional capacity for neighbourhood health services via improved utilisation, supported with digital pathways, redesigned workflows, or reconfiguration of services. “Estate should be capable of supporting population-based neighbourhood models, including multidisciplinary working, co-location, shared use of space and, where relevant, shared clinical, diagnostic or support infrastructure across neighbourhoods, whilst being able to preserve the data and physical security necessary to delivering clinical services,” it explains.
On outline design and performance specification, NHSE suggests that neighbourhood health centres should be designed to offer a physical setting as well as a digital hub for integrating primary, community, and social care, localising ambulatory and diagnostic services, and bringing in local authority or third sector where appropriate. They should further serve as anchors to the neighbourhood health network, operating as digitally-enabled and connected components of the wider model, helping to integrate services, coordinate activity, and connect centres, it adds.
Under the guidance, digital check-in and reception functions are expected to support streamlined access, with self-service digital check-in points integrated with the NHS App and shared care systems to enable patients to register efficiently. Each centre should be designed as an interoperable and data intelligent facility, offering connectivity with shared care records, the NHS App, and system digital platforms, and “crucially” should be linked digitally with all other neighbourhood health centres in its locality. “This connectivity means that each centre spans far beyond its physical footprint,” NHSE says. “Real-time utilisation and occupancy data flows across the whole neighbourhood health centre network enable dynamic space sharing, co-ordinated scheduling and cross site service optimisation.”
NHSE also considers opportunities for smart building tech such as occupancy analytics and environmental sensors to offer ongoing insight into how services are being delivered, and the need for “standardised, plug and play technology” across all bookable environments to support digitally-enabled clinical models like virtual consultations and community monitoring. It goes on to look at how digital twins and common data environments can create opportunities for learning health system approaches, as well as how the inclusion of digital consultation rooms can enable virtual appointments without occupying rooms dedicated to face-to-face care. The NHS digital toolkit and buildings digital asset management solution is a consistent way to manage building and asset information, it recommends, whilst the main design team should be supported by digital asset management specialists and building information management experts to ensure buildings are designed for long-term value.
Finally, NHSE shares that all refurbishment schemes must ensure facilities are digitally-enabled and connected to other neighbourhood health services, shared care records, and system digital platforms, adding: “Digital infrastructure should support the same core functions as new-build centres, including interoperable room booking systems, virtual consultation capability and participation in network-wide operational intelligence.”
Wider trend: Neighbourhood health
Sir James Mackey, chief executive at NHS England, has outlined next steps on planning and priorities for 2026/27 in an open letter to ICB and trust chief executives. Executives are asked to begin to build out strategic commissioning narratives to focus on what strategic commissioning means for the local system and how it will be developed over the next three years; plans around neighbourhood care; whether changes to financial flows or payment are sought to help with delivery; and what more can be done at the centre to help drive pace of change locally. ICBs should provide a single document via regional teams to summarise the above points by 15 May.
In a recent meeting, the NHSE board offered a series of updates around cyber resilience, single patient record, neighbourhood technology, the genomics programme, and 10-Year Plan acceleration programmes, citing “a number of concerns” that need to be addressed prior to investment commitments. On the single patient record and neighbourhood technology, Mark Bailie, non-executive director notes that “current plans show benefits realising in 2030, which is inconsistent with publicly stated ambitions and needs to be reconciled” and adds that there is no clear vision for neighbourhood technology.
North West London ICB has defined next steps and key priorities to accelerate neighbourhood health across the region, with a focus on agreements for data sharing, accelerating the spread of proven care models, and driving the move from reactive to proactive care. Since the last update, “the focus has shifted from design to delivery”, NWL states. “All seven place managing directors are now leading local partnerships with governance and integrator arrangements in development. One model of care – children’s health – is demonstrating measurable impact and is being rolled out.” Other care models are currently being confirmed, or are in proof of concept phases, including cardio-renal metabolic (CRM) and end-of-life care.
