Over half of neighbourhood health centres to be based at hospitals, ICB reveals
Exclusive Over half of neighbourhood health centres in one area are expected to be based at hospitals rather than GP practices, new ICB proposals have revealed.
Essex ICB has revealed its list of 14 proposed neighbourhood health centre sites, including three GP practice premises and eight hospitals.
The ICB has submitted applications for five ‘anchor’ sites – four of which are hospitals – with one site per multi-neighbourhood population area (see box). It also included in its submission nine ‘core’ (serving 30,000 patients) or ‘core+’ (50,000 patients) sites.
It follows NHS England guidance which advised neighbourhood health centres should be ‘anchored around general practice’.
The guidance also said that the centres will be expected to include ‘on-site general practice’ as a ‘core element’ of the model, not solely GP staff or sessional input.
The ICB said it had ‘engaged broadly’ with primary care, wider NHS partners, local government, and other stakeholders in the development of the proposal.
Pulse revealed in May that the ICB had given PCNs just two weeks to submit their ‘pipeline’ proposals for neighbourhood health centre sites.
At the time, local GPs argued NHS England had set the tight deadline to strengthen the position of hospital trusts in leading neighbourhood health services.
The ICB acknowledged it ‘was not a perfect process, given the timescale’ and expected ‘revisions to be made’. It said that this ‘remains an early iteration’, with schemes at ‘a formative stage’.
In a letter to stakeholders, the ICB’s chief executive Tom Abell said: ‘We are confident that our plans are reasonable and not excessive, clearly link to need, and have broad support from the community, local government and beyond.
‘Although there has been significant focus on this submission over the last two months due to the national deadline, there is much else we know we need to progress in terms of improving NHS community and primary care estate across the county.
‘We know that we need to do better at engaging in new ideas from partners and building infrastructure faster and this process has identified a number of additional opportunities which we are exploring.’
Proposed sites
‘Anchor’ sites – core+ or core++ centres
• St Peter’s Hospital, Maldon
• Clacton Hospital
• Southend High Street
• Thurrock Community Hospital
• St Margaret’s Hospital, Epping
Other sites included within the submission – core or core+ centres
• Brentwood Community Hospital
• Chelmsford High Street
• Turner Road Primary Care Centre, Colchester
• Braintree Community Hospital or Manor Street Livewell Hub
• Fryatt Hospital and Mayflower Medical Centre, Harwich
• Canvey Primary Care Centre
• Pitsea
• Harlow High Street
• Saffron Walden Community Hospital
Source: Essex ICB
According to NHS England guidance:
- ‘Core’ centres include co‑located general practices serving the same locality, supporting primary care, community services and some secondary care clinics while remaining convenient and accessible;
- ‘Core+’ centres include additional space for services such as family support and healthy child development, primary care‑led mental health provision and minor injuries or walk‑in services;
- ‘Core++’ centres also include diagnostic space and 24‑hour phlebotomy provision, supporting local need and, where appropriate, acute services.
Source: NHS England
Essex ICB’s executive director of neighbourhood health Beverley Flowers told Pulse: ‘NHS Essex is committed to developing robust neighbourhood health plans in partnership with those who will be delivering the services.
‘That is why, to gather views on the initial pipeline for neighbourhood health centres in May, we sought views from practices in various ways, including meeting to discuss their suggestions or accepting written feedback.
‘The list of potential sites are a mixture of existing estates and projects that will require further capital investment and we await further information from NHS England on the next steps to making neighbourhood health centres a reality.’
Last month, the Government said it will approve the first NHC proposals by the summer, but said it has received a lot of ICB proposals for estates upgrades that it ‘can’t afford’.
And two trusts have recently been confirmed by NHS England as the first two integrated health organisations (IHO) within the new neighbourhood health model.
