Neighbourhood Health in south east London
What is Neighbourhood Health?
Neighbourhood Health is the NHS and government’s approach to reshaping how health, care and wider support are organised. It reflects a shift away from fragmented, crisis‑driven, hospital-based services towards support that is preventative, proactive and based around real communities, bringing care closer to where people live and strengthening local partnerships.
National and London frameworks describe neighbourhood health as working across the whole population, whole needs and whole system - recognising that physical and mental health are shaped not only by clinical care, but by a wide range of different life factors, such as housing, income, employment, social connection, culture and the environment we live in.
Neighbourhood Health operates around natural communities rather than institutional boundaries - and relies on collaboration between the NHS, councils, the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector and communities themselves.
A shift - not a new idea
Neighbourhood Health sits within a wider national policy shift set out in the 10‑Year Health Plan for England: Fit for the Future. The plan identifies three major changes needed across the system - moving care from hospital to community, from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital - with neighbourhood working seen as a key way of delivering these shifts in practice.
While Neighbourhood Health is now a major NHS and policy priority, the approach itself is not new. VCSE organisations have long worked in neighbourhood‑based, relational ways:
- preventing problems before they escalate
- supporting people holistically and over time
- building trust with communities historically underserved by statutory systems
- responding flexibly to complex, overlapping needs
- providing holistic support that addresses people's wider life needs (also known as wider determinants of health)
What is new is that the healthcare system is beginning to formally recognise and scale this way of working - creating both opportunities and risks.
Without deliberate action, Neighbourhood Health could become overly focused on formal teams, processes and institutions, rather than the community ecosystems that make prevention and early support possible.
How Neighbourhood Health is being implemented in London
Across London, Neighbourhood Health is being shaped by a wider 'case for change'”, recognising that the current system is under pressure and needs to work differently to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities. The London model highlights the need for more care to be delivered in communities, stronger neighbourhood working, and better coordination across services - reinforcing the shift towards prevention, partnership and place‑based approaches.
Why the VCSE sector is key
Neighbourhood Health can only work if communities and trusted VCSE partners actively lead and are embedded from the start. The VCSE sector brings strengths that cannot be replicated elsewhere: deep local knowledge, lived‑experience insight, trusted relationships, cultural competence, creativity and reach.
Across south east London, the system already partners with the VCSE sector - often to:
- reach people and communities statutory services struggle to
- provide needs-led, early and preventative support
- enable people to stay connected, happy and well in their local communities
- hold trusting, long-term relationships that span health, care and community life
The challenge is ensuring the vital role of the VCSE sector is properly recognised, resourced and embedded as neighbourhood health develops.
The Alliance’s role in Neighbourhood Health
A key part of how Neighbourhood Health is being implemented locally is through '“integrator' functions. Integrators are partnerships or lead organisations that help bring together health, care and community services at place and neighbourhood level - supporting coordination, shared priorities, data, workforce and funding so that different neighbourhood organisations can work effectively as a joined‑up system.
Find your local integrator and learn more on the SEL ICB website.
The SEL VCSE Strategic Alliance is well placed to support Neighbourhood Health because we bring together borough‑level VCSE infrastructure, specialist organisations and system insight from across south east London.
Our focus is on shaping the conditions for Neighbourhood Health to succeed - not on delivering services, but on enabling strong, equitable partnerships between the VCSE sector, the NHS and local government.
Neighbourhood Health has the potential to transform outcomes for communities - but only if the VCSE sector is embedded meaningfully within it, not adjunct to it. The Alliance works to ensure that community‑led approaches and VCSE leadership are integral, visible and sustained as this agenda develops.
Explore Alliance work and collaborations.
Alliance strategic priorities
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We are embedding VCSE representation across governance and decision-making, ensuring the sector has a meaningful role in shaping priorities, funding decisions and neighbourhood models.
We are strengthening how VCSE insight and impact inform population health - improving data use, developing shared outcomes, and building the case for long-term investment in prevention.
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We are working to make funding fair and sustainable - promoting multi-year investment, full-cost recovery, and proportionate commissioning that supports collaboration and protects community provision.
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Neighbourhood health in action
This video shows how Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) work in practice by supporting one individual through coordinated, joined‑up care. INTs are the main health‑led delivery element of neighbourhood health. They bring together healthcare professionals alongside VCSE organisations and other partners to provide more coordinated, community‑based support.
In south east London, the initial focus is on people with frailty, multiple long‑term conditions, and children and young people with intersecting and complex needs - where joined‑up support can have the greatest impact. INTs focus on working differently around individuals with higher or more complex needs. They sit within the wider neighbourhood health approach, which also includes prevention, early support and community‑based activity that helps people stay well before they reach crisis point.
Find out more about Integrated Neighbourhood Teams at the SEL ICB website
Key updates and resources
Our work supports neighbourhood health by strengthening VCSE leadership, influence and infrastructure across south east London. These projects reflect our strategic priorities and respond to system change, funding opportunities and emerging needs in communities.
London Neighbourhood Health modelling
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The NHS 10 Year Health Plan
The NHS 10 Year Health Plan
Setting the next steps for neighbourhood health
Creative Health in Southwark
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Lambeth VCSE Partnership Awards
Our work and collaborations
Our work supports neighbourhood health by strengthening VCSE leadership, influence and infrastructure across south east London. These projects reflect our strategic priorities and respond to system change, funding opportunities and emerging needs in communities.
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