GPs to chair ‘localities’ as part of ICB move to neighbourhood model
Exclusive GPs in Birmingham will be in charge of chairing health partnerships looking after 250,000 to 300,000 people, known as ‘localities’, as part of a move to a neighbourhood health service model.
Birmingham and Solihull ICB has published its plans to roll out a neighbourhood health service model, which include splitting the area into six ‘localities’, which will include community services and the voluntary sector.
The ICB told Pulse the localities will be ‘chaired by GPs’ and their ‘leadership is integral to the success’ of the model.
It said that the model is based on ‘integrated care in neighbourhoods’ including ‘multi-disciplinary teams’ supporting people ‘making the highest use of health and care services’.
Each locality will have five to six ‘neighbourhoods’, which will be ‘geographically coherent’ and ‘aligned’ with PCNs. A total of 35 neighbourhoods will be set up in the area, covering a population of around 50,000 people each.
When asked by Pulse how these will differ from PCNs and if there is a risk of duplicating what PCNs already do, the ICB said that this approach will focus on ‘tackling wider determinants of health, such as housing, employment, education, and social connection’, to ‘address health inequalities’ and support the Government’s ‘vision to shift care from hospitals to communities’.
The ICB hopes to have the model fully rolled out by March 2028, according to documents shared with the ICB’s board.
The documents include an ‘evaluation’ of two neighbourhood teams currently up and running, which showed a ‘30% reduction in GP consultations and 15% reduction in ED attendances after intervention by the multidisciplinary team’, as well as ‘increased staff satisfaction’.
This version of the model concentrates on services for adults, the ICB added, and as it develops, it will ‘extend to integrated care for children and young people’.
The model also includes ‘locality hubs’ which will offer ‘specialist clinics which take place in the community’ and will focus on reducing admissions, improving discharges and supporting people with long-term conditions.
It comes as the Government has promised to move more care into the community, with ICBs potentially handing some of their existing functions over to the new ‘neighbourhood teams’.
However, the Government and NHS England have not yet clarified what form ‘neighbourhood health’ will take, despite repeatedly touting it as the future of the NHS. More details on this are expected in the upcoming 10-year plan for health, which is expected to be published next month.
The ICB said: ‘The model provides the basis for our work over the next two to three years to roll out and continue to develop 35 integrated neighbourhood teams and six locality hubs.
‘Initial evaluation of these teams has shown the potential to improve care and keep people well at home reducing demand for urgent and emergency care.
‘We have deliberately adopted a “test and learn” approach to the development of integrated care in our system.
‘Our model of care will therefore continue to evolve as we learn from the roll out and we expect it to develop further in the light of experience.’
Pulse understands that Birmingham LMC was not involved in discussions around the plans. The LMC was approached for comment.
A spokesperson for Birmingham and Solihull ICB told Pulse: ‘Our approach to neighbourhood health recognises that care needs to be brought closer to where people live and work and requires a whole system approach bringing together the NHS, local government, the voluntary and community sector, and wider public services to integrate all areas of care – from primary to acute, mental health, and social care.
‘We will succeed in establishing real neighbourhood health services if we work together outside of our service silos.
‘This approach enables us to tackle wider determinants of health, such as housing, employment, education, and social connection, to address health inequalities and support the Government’s vision to shift care from hospitals to communities and move the focus from treatment to prevention.
‘Meanwhile, each of our six localities across Birmingham and Solihull are chaired by GPs and their leadership is integral to the success of our neighbourhood health model.’
Other ICBs around the country have also shared their plans to implement neighbourhood teams. Pulse revealed exclusively that Cornwall ICB is planning to invest £18m into integrated GP neighbourhood teams, which will include hospital consultant input for key specialties. And in London, these could see hospitals bolster struggling GP practices.
In his latest speech mentioning moving more care into the community, health secretary Wes Streeting said that GPs ‘should be able to run local hospitals’ as part of a radical reform of the NHS and that that thanks to the investment announced in the spending review the NHS ‘will receive thousands more GPs to help build the neighbourhood health service’.
