Neighbourhood health framework: clarity, gaps and what comes next (The King's Fund, 1 April 2026)

Summary

The government has published its much-awaited Neighbourhood Health Framework. It sets out in new detail what neighbourhood health aims to do and how this will be achieved, building on the 10 Year Health Plan, the Neighbourhood health guidelines 2025/26 and the Medium Term Planning Framework. 

The framework describes neighbourhood health as putting the person at the centre of how local services are organised and delivered – including GP and community services, urgent care and outpatients, as well as services commissioned by local authorities such as social care and public health.  

The new guidance brings some long-awaited clarity to commissioners and providers about what neighbourhood health should deliver. There is much to welcome. But questions remain around whether targets can ease pressures on the acute sector as well as improve patient care and experience; whether focus can be maintained on long term population health priorities among a plethora of specific shorter term delivery goals; whether permissiveness in designing local services and rigid structures can coexist; and, fundamentally, whether integrated care boards (ICBs) and other organisations have the capacity to action it all. 

In this King's Fund article, experts set out their more detailed analysis of the framework. They consider the parts to celebrate, the aspects that raise some concerns, what’s missing, and the questions that remain outstanding.