NHS England is seeking feedback on its proposed contracting models for multi-neighbourhood provider (MNP) and single neighbourhood provider (SNP) contracts, aiming to promote joined up services, improve health and outcomes, better organise services around local population needs, and outline clearer responsibility for services or pathways.
MNPs will plan and organise services spanning several neighbourhoods, ensuring consistency and collaboration, managing how incentive payments are allocated, and working closely with local providers including SNPs, GPs, community health services, NHS trusts, and wider public services. Under the proposals, NHSE suggests two options for MNP organisation: helping organisations work together and keeping existing contracts with providers in place; or taking full responsibility for outcomes across multiple neighbourhoods and bringing existing services together under one contract.
SNPs will plan and organise services in one neighbourhood, delivering “enhanced” primary care services, working closely with, and subcontracting to, GP practices and other local providers, NHSE states. The SNP model builds on current PCNs, it continues, but with a greater focus on local needs, with more flexibility for the organisation of staff and services, with an aim to take a broader approach than general practice with who helps deliver services through subcontracting.
Three options for SNP organisation include using a variation of the current PCN DES; commissioning SNPs directly, with ICBs contracting directly with SNPs and determining local services and funding, while SNPs deliver local enhanced primary care in single neighbourhoods or subcontract to other organisations; and using an MNP model, contracting with an MNP and then commissioning SNPs for a single neighbourhood.
As well as integrated neighbourhood teams, the new contracts could include responsibility for urgent general practice services outside of core hours, proactive care for those with long-term conditions, support for GP practices that are struggling, data analytics and quality improvement functions, and digital transformation and estates strategy, NHSE suggests.
A short questionnaire offering multiple choice questions about level of support for each of the proposed models has opened to collect views, with options to add more detailed answers. The closing date for submissions is 10 September 2026. Feedback on the proposed contracting models will be reviewed to see what changes are required, NHSE outlines, with further consultation to take place later in the year.
Wider trend: Neighbourhood health
HTN ran an industry thought piece on neighbourhood health in May, collecting thoughts from across the industry on the greatest digital/industry/healthcare challenges and how digital can be an enabler to successful neighbourhood health. Views and insights were offered from a range of industry experts, detailing issues around siloed information, interoperability, inconsistency, and misaligned incentives.
Norfolk and Suffolk ICB has addressed future plans for strategic commissioning and neighbourhood health, in a written response to NHS chief executive Jim Mackey’s questions to ICBs around planning and priorities for 2026/27. The ICB recognises “many important local successes” over the last year, with plans to combine “the best of both legacy ICBs to create a healthcare system shaped by strategic commissioning”. The short-term focus is remaining on plan and achieving national standards for performance and quality of care, it states, whilst longer term ambitions revolve around supporting populations in living healthier and longer lives, supported by evidence-led digital transformation shifting focus to prevention and neighbourhood-based care.
London-based social enterprise management consultancy, PPL, has launched a free-to-use online tool designed to support neighbourhood health across the capital, bringing a wealth of data together to identify local population trends and needs. The London Neighbourhood Public Data Explorer tool enables users to view and compare neighbourhoods on a map, explore indicators across different themes, and export information in PDF format for use elsewhere. “Build your view” functionality is said to offer the flexibility to select relevant locations across neighbourhood, borough, system, and all-London levels, with data on population and demography, health and wellbeing, social factors and wider determinants, safety and crime, and environment and access.
