Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to improve NHS community care.

Community health services are a fundamental part of the health and care system and an essential building block in developing a neighbourhood health service.

Neighbourhood health provides the unifying framework that brings together what is already underway, across primary care, community services, urgent care, prevention, digital, estates and population health, into a single, coherent model focused on improved access, experiences, and outcomes.

It will bring more care into local communities, work to create and convene partnerships with other professionals from different organisations into teams aligned around the needs of the individual, reduce service fragmentation, and shift the focus of whole systems towards the prevention of ill health.

For the first time, we have set a target for systems to work to reduce long waits for community health services in NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework. By 2028/29, at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.

In addition, NHS England’s recently published Standardising Community Health Services will support improved commissioning and delivery of community health services, helping to ensure the best use of funding to meet local needs and priorities.