Earlier this year, Workforce Voices held two events in London and Newcastle. These brought together people from health, care and community organisations to talk freely about how to build a strong neighbourhood health workforce especially in areas facing bigger challenges, such as where there are fewer GPs and patients have worse health.
What is neighbourhood health?
Neighbourhood health is about making it easier for people to get the help they need closer to home. It means different services like GPs, nurses, social care and community groups work together as one team. The goal is to support people in a way that fits their daily lives and the needs of their local area. It is about making care more local, joined-up and focused on people.
What were the learning events about?
In London, the event was the first time the London Deep End community met in person. “Deep End” refers to areas with the highest levels of poverty, where people are more likely to be unwell and have shorter lives. The event gave people such as GPs, nurses, voluntary organisations a chance to connect, share experiences, and talk about the realities of working at the Deep End in London.
Across both events, people spoke about the importance of relationships between staff, with patients, and across services. They also shared the pressures they face, including not enough time or staff to do their job, stress, and work that often goes unrecognised. There was a clear message that local teams need the support, time, and freedom to develop solutions that work for their communities.
The Newcastle event focused more deeply on what a good neighbourhood workforce looks like in the real-world. This event included people like GPs, nurses, midwives, researchers, policymakers, patients and members of the public. People at this event said that neighbourhood health should be welcoming, community-focused, and based on teamwork. All roles should be valued, including non-clinical staff like receptionists and leadership should be shared rather than top-down.
Attendees also highlighted that learning should happen in everyday work, not just in formal training. At the same time, staff need better support, including clear roles, safe working environments, and protection from blame when systems are under pressure.
These conversations show a shift in focus from targets and structures to people, relationships and communities as the basis of good care.
Reports from both events will be published soon and shared here, bringing together the full learning to support future work on neighbourhood health.
