Committee publication · Correspondence · 20 May 2026
Correspondence from Minister Smyth - 10 Year Workforce Plan and Neighbourhood Health
From: Health and Social Care Committee
Inquiry: Delivering the Neighbourhood Health Service: Workforce
Summary
Minister Karin Smyth responds to the Health and Social Care Committee's January 2026 letter on the NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan and Neighbourhood Health Service. She outlines the government's ambition to shift care from hospitals into communities through locally-led neighbourhood health centres, supported by a workforce framework ensuring staff have the right skills to deliver proactive, preventative, and personalised care across integrated teams.
Key findings
- Government has committed to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres with 120 operational by 2030, funded through public-private partnership and public capital.
- A Neighbourhood Health Framework published in March 2026 provides clarity for Integrated Care Boards and local authorities to develop locally-led neighbourhood health plans.
- The 10 Year Workforce Plan aims to make neighbourhoods attractive workplaces, ensure training for proactive and preventative care delivery, and enable seamless multi-disciplinary team working across organisational boundaries.
- Government recognises need to address disparity of esteem between acute and community settings, and to rebalance staff supply across regions, particularly in deprived areas with acute shortages.
- Digital enablement is central to the neighbourhood health model, with commitment to prevent digital exclusion in healthcare access.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Karin Smyth, Layla Moran, Health and Social Care Committee, Integrated Care Boards, Local authorities, Social Partnership Forum
Notable line
“The ambition to move care into the community is a long-standing one, but one that has not been fully achieved in the past.”
Key Quotes
“The 10 Year Health Plan set a clear ambition to shift care from hospitals into the community, and in doing so build a Neighbourhood Health Service which will bring care closer to local communities …”
“Neighbourhood Health Centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a wide range of health and care services on people's doorsteps, joining up NHS, local authority and voluntary services as a one-stop shop.”
“… the new Neighbourhood Health Service will require a neighbourhood workforce, with staff working together across different teams, organisations and settings.”
“We are actively considering how we can ensure health and care staff want to work in neighbourhood settings and making it easier for them to do so by removing barriers to integration so that teams are empowered …”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗