Bristol NHS Foundation Trust selected as one of six national neighbourhood health trailblazer sites
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (BFT), alongside local partners across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG), has been selected as one of only six national Neighbourhood Health Trailblazer sites.
Announced by the Government, the programme recognises the strength of partnership working across BNSSG and a shared ambition to improve care closer to home. The Government has partnered with Social Finance, Macmillan Cancer Support and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for the programme, bringing together expertise in cancer care, system transformation, innovative finance and neighbourhood health.
BFT and local partners will develop a new 1,000 Days Neighbourhood Model for its Trailblazer, to improve end-of-life care and support more people with frailty and multiple conditions outside hospital settings.
The ambition is to provide more proactive and joined-up support to people who need it, helping them remain independent and receive care closer to home and outside hospital settings. Initially, the programme will focus on Weston-super-Mare and the wider North Somerset area.
The initiative builds on the strong foundations already in place across the NHS, local government, voluntary and community sector, rather than creating a separate service. It provides an opportunity to tackle health inequalities and help shape a neighbourhood health model that could inform future approaches across the NHS.
Maria Kane, Chief Executive of Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to build on the excellent partnership working already taking place across BNSSG and explore new ways of supporting people earlier, closer to home and in their communities.
“Together with our partners, we want to create a neighbourhood model that helps tackle health inequalities, improves people’s experience of care and supports more people to remain independent for longer.
“By identifying people living with frailty, multiple long-term conditions and advancing illness earlier, and providing joined-up support closer to home, this programme will support all three of the NHS 10 Year Plan’s key shifts: from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital.”
The proposal was developed collaboratively by partners across BNSSG, including the Integrated Care Board (ICB), primary care, local government, community and voluntary sector organisations and academic partners.
Shane Devlin, BNSSG and Gloucestershire ICB Cluster Chief Executive, said:
“I’m delighted that Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire has been selected as one of only six areas nationwide, to pilot a new neighbourhood model and explore how we can help local people to live healthier, more independent lives closer to home.
“This pilot builds on a range of innovative work already taking place across our ICB cluster which is seeing the NHS, local authority and voluntary sector partners working more closely together to redesign care around our populations.
“Frailty and end of life care are a high strategic priority for our health and care system so it is very fitting that this trailblazer will focus on this area of care. This is a very special project that will benefit not only local people but also, through sharing of our learning, other communities nationwide.”
Over the coming months, partners will work with local communities and national organisations to further develop the model and build the evidence needed to support future investment and wider rollout.
The six trailblazers will pave the way for the future so more areas can benefit from their models and approaches. Government funding will help sites develop and test new neighbourhood health models, creating the foundations for larger-scale investment and wider adoption across the NHS in future.
Dame Diana Johnson, Minister of State for Health, said:
“Neighbourhood health is about bringing services together within our local communities, helping people get the right care, at the right time, closer to home.
“These six trailblazer pilots will help lead the way in showing how locally led services can work together in the areas of greatest need, and support people to live healthier, more independent lives.
“The programme is a key part of our 10 Year Health Plan, helping us shift from treating sickness to preventing it in the first place, and giving people the help they need in the heart of their own communities.”
The programme builds on pioneering work developed by West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support and Social Finance, where a proactive care service is already helping provide earlier support and keep people independent.
Further details about the six national Trailblazer sites are available in the national announcement.