Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of fragmented care pathways on (a) patient outcomes and (b) NHS resource use; and what steps he is taking to improve care coordination for patients with long-term conditions.

The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can: digitally by default, in a patient’s home, if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary. Through this model, we will rebalance our health and care system so that it fits around people’s lives, not the other way round. This approach will mean patients are not sent from pillar to post, improving outcomes and making better use of resources.

In the meantime, we have launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) to support systems across the country by driving innovation and integration at a local level, to accelerate improvements in patient outcomes and patient satisfaction and ensure that care is more joined-up, accessible, and responsive to community needs. The initial focus for all the first places in the NNHIP will be adults with multiple long-term conditions and rising risk, before progressing to other places and populations. There will be a rigorous monitoring of outcomes and metrics for the NNHIP.