Developing Devon's Neighbourhood Health Plan: Timeline and Principles Please note that the following recommendations are subject to consideration and determination by the Committee before taking effect.

1) Recommendation

The Board is asked to:

1. Approve the timeline and principles set out in this paper, including focusing the January 2027 board meeting on achieving the foundation preparations for Neighbourhood Health.

2) Background

This paper sets out what neighbourhood health and neighbourhood health plans are and the role of the Health and Wellbeing Board within these, establishes a broad timeline for their preparation during 2026/27 and 2027/28, and defines guiding principles for the Health and Wellbeing Board to guide their production.

3) What are Neighbourhood Health Plans?

In 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care published the Neighbourhood Health Framework, setting out the next steps for the NHS, local government and wider partners to develop neighbourhood health services as part of the 10-year health plan. This relates directly to 'hospital to community' strategic shift in the plan, and also links strongly with the strategic shifts from 'treatment to prevention' and from 'analogue to digital'

National guidance has also defined three system levels at which neighbourhood health activities take place. These are:

  • Neighbourhoods (covering populations of around 30,000 to 50,000 people): where groups of GP practices, NHS community services, social care and other providers to deliver more co-ordinated and proactive care through multi-agency neighbourhood teams. At present these align to Primary Care Networks across Devon
  • Places (covering populations of around 150,000 to 350,000 people): where partnerships of health and care organisations on a wider footprint including local government, NHS providers, VCSE organisations, social care providers and others come together to join up the planning and delivery of services, redesign care pathways, engage with local communities and address health inequalities and the social and economic determinants of health. At present these align to Local Care Partnerships in Devon, with further alignment to local authority boundaries desirable.