Regions and integrated care boards (ICB) have been given until the end of next month to set out how neighbourhood health centres (NHC) will be organised across their areas.
New guidance from NHS England gives regions until 28 May to complete a ‘proposed strategic NHC pipeline’ explaining how the new centres will be arranged across each ICB footprint.
The document said: ‘This should set out the ICB’s latest view of how neighbourhood health centres will be organised across its footprint to deliver effective clinical strategies, the places in which capital investment is likely to be prioritised, and the mix of upgrades and new builds it proposes to deliver over time.
‘Working with their ICBs, regions must develop early-stage, site-specific proposals that identify location, population served, service model, estate option (refurbishment, extension or new build), site constraints, planning considerations, digital requirements and indicative capital needs, and how local partners and communities have informed the proposal.’
NHS England said that by 28 May, regions working with ICBs should set out:
- The latest thinking on how neighbourhoods will be defined geographically in their area;
- A clear outline of the proposed neighbourhood health estate, listing existing facilities and upgrade and new build proposals;
- Information about how upgrade and new build proposals align to the assessment criteria; and
- A list of disposals that will be enabled through investment and improved utilisation.
NHS England confirmed that schemes may continue to be refined or amended after submission as ‘planning develops and further assurance is undertaken’.
The new neighbourhood health centre guidance, published on Wednesday, urges ICBs to consider upgrades to existing estates before proposing the construction of new centres, saying that there is already ‘substantial estate’ that can support the development of NHCs’ across the NHS, local government, wider public sector and civil society.
‘Where suitable estate exists, upgrading, repurposing or extending existing estate should generally be the preferred approach when it offers a better value for money solution than new build,’ it added.
When ICBs submit proposals for new build centres, the guidance said that locations which are in or close to existing community ‘focal points’ are preferred, as these ‘support accessibility, integration and wider regeneration objectives’.
Sites that are not will need to be ‘justified clearly’, NHS England said.
Some 80% of new builds are expected to be delivered through public private partnerships and 20% through public capital, with decisions on which delivery route will be used for which schemes to be taken centrally, it added.
The new guidance for ICBs and regions also sets out the minimum requirements that are needed for designation as an NHC, with on-site general practice described as a ‘core element’ of the model, not ‘solely GP staff or sessional input’.
General practice and PCN staff, community health and integrated neighbourhood teams (INT), consulting rooms for ear, nose and throat, gynaecology and other community clinics, and shared spaces are set out as core components for NHCs.
NHS England said that it hopes the minimum requirements will support the establishment of a national benchmark, while other services, including mental health, diagnostics and minor injuries services, will vary by location.
The document also said that NHCs should serve a population footprint of around 50,000, with GP services expected to be operating at the scale of a PCN.
This footprint aligns with the size of the proposed single neighbourhood providers (SNP) as set out in the recently published neighbourhood health framework, which will deliver new services through INTs within a defined single neighbourhood.
The government has committed to opening 250 neighbourhood health centres across the country through a mix of private and public finance. The locations of the first 27 centres were revealed last month.
The centres should be open at least 12 hours a day and six days a week, in line with the expectation set out in the government’s flagship 10-Year Health Plan.
NHS England has previously written to ICBs giving them until 15 May to submit their plans for neighbourhood health services.
A version of this story was first published on Healthcare Leader’s sister title Pulse PCN.
