Streeting announces 43 neighbourhood pilots of which GPs will be ‘cornerstone’

The health secretary has announced the 43 areas which have been chosen to pilot the new neighbourhood health service – saying that GPs will be their ‘cornerstone’.

It comes after some areas have already appointed hospital trusts, rather than GPs, to lead neighbourhood services in their area.

Speaking today at a conference hosted by the King’s Fund, Wes Streeting said the ‘wave one’ sites will cover areas including more than a fifth of the population.

Backed by £10m in funding, they will begin on today (9 September) ‘with the ambition to scale up more services over the course of the next year’, the Government said.

According to the health secretary, these areas ‘are the ones best placed to provide immediate improvements to patients where the need is greatest’. 

He said: ‘With GPs as the cornerstone, [the pilot areas] will act as test beds for the new financial flows and primary care contracts we described in the 10 year plan. 

‘Starting in the most deprived parts of the country, vulnerable patients with multiple long-term conditions will get more joined-up services closer to home and avoid the frustration caused by a maze of referrals.’

Describing the services as a ‘big departure’ from previous health policy, the health secretary hailed the possibility that ‘that patients can see their GP and specialist consultants in the same building, often on the same day’. 

Also today, NHS England national medical director Dr Claire Fuller and DHSC second permanent secretary Tom Riordan wrote to the selected sites to confirm next steps.

The letter said: ‘We had an overwhelming response to the programme and received 141 applications (approximately 83% of the number of Places in England).

‘It has been encouraging to see so many good examples of neighbourhood working across the country and commitment to go further backed by senior leaders across health, care, the voluntary and community sector and their wider partners.’

It confirmed that the sites will be offered:

• Opportunity ‘to help shape enablers’ such as funding flows
• A ‘national coach’ to work with neighbourhood teams
• Access to ‘subject experts’
• Three face-to-face regional learning workshops
• Online support (practical tools, case studies and real-time learning)
• A ‘knowledge hub’ with themed areas for peer-to-peer learning (currently in development)
• Data and evaluation workshops to support baseline development and outcome tracking
• A ‘knowledge management centre’ to share and access insights from across the country

But GPs have raised concern about whether general practice will be leading on the new neighbourhood project.

BMA leaders are preparing to ‘debate the risk of the 10-year plan to the medical profession at large’ and whether the organisation should re-enter a formal dispute with the Government. 

Last week, Pulse reported that South East London ICB has appointed a fifth trust, King’s College Hospital FT, has been chosen to lead the service in Bromley, meaning that five of its six areas will be led by trusts.

And Pulse revealed exclusively that GP leaders in one area advised practices to hold off from taking part in new ‘neighbourhood health programmes’, amid a lack of clarity and fears that these could jeopardise GMS contracts.