The successful applicants to the national neighbourhood health implementation programme (NNHIP) were revealed today by health secretary Wes Streeting as he championed the NHS future plan.
Speaking at The King’s Fund’s conference on the 10 year plan, Mr Streeting said the first 43 sites to pioneer the NNHIP have been selected from 141 applicants.
In a letter to those accepted to 'wave one' of the programme, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) stated that these areas would have access to a national coach, subject experts, face-to-face regional learning workshops, data evaluation workshops, a knowledge management centre to share insights across the country, and capability-building training for their local coach and team members.
These sites cover more than 12 million patients ‘from Cornwall to Nottingham to Sunderland’, Mr Streeting said. They were selected for their ability to provide immediate improvements to patients in the most deprived areas of the country.
This is a ‘big departure from what’s gone before’ and ‘an entirely new way of operating for the NHS’ Streeting said acknowledging that not every area will succeed immediately.
It will require people from different organisations to behave as one system – a theme repeated by panellists throughout the course of the conference.
He also rejected pessimism pertaining to the NHS plan. ‘This is the Neighbourhood Health Service – another example of us getting on with the job to build a healthier nation and reduce health inequalities,’ he added.
Streeting said this change will be supported by ‘innovative and entrepreneurial approaches’ from the front line, such as patients seeing their GP and specialist consultants in the same building; patients having chemotherapy delivered by drone; and AI reshaping patient care.
‘The front line is how we will renew our health service’ he said.
New NHS league tables
He was speaking at The King’s Fund conference on the same day the new rating system for NHS trusts went live.
The league tables were initially pledged by Labour back in November 2023, suggesting that what the NHS needed was ‘greater transparency’.
In the rankings, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been ranked the highest performing acute trust, and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust the lowest.
In his speech, Streeting touted these league tables as an opportunity to ‘address the postcode lottery of care across the country’ and incentivise change.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund, was less enthusiastic.
She told Streeting: ‘We are hugely supportive of shining a light on what’s happening, but we must be careful that the league tables are meaningful for patients.
‘I had a play around with it all and I couldn’t tell, for example, which might be a better hospital to have a baby. So, I think we can work together to improve the data that is out there.’
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