NHSE ‘worried’ about ‘rigour’ of management of neighbourhoods

NHS England is worried about the “rigour of management” of neighbourhoods, its chair has said.

Asked to summarise progress on neighbourhoods and what aspects needed most attention, Penny Dash told a conference on Wednesday: “The bit we worry about is, actually, management.

“Because quite a lot of [neighbourhood health] still feels that it’s great people doing great work, but it hasn’t got quite that rigour of the management behind it that you might want to see.”

Dr Dash also said she was concerned the health service was “still slightly struggling to create this impetus and momentum” to fulfil the ambitions of the 10-Year Health Plan.

She stressed that progress needs to be made “now”, “not least because the science is here now”, referencing things like genomics.

“There’s an awful lot happening in the live world of healthcare that we need to bottle and keep the momentum up on that,” she said.

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Source: HSJ, 13 February 2026