The NHS is on the cusp of a fundamental transformation. Faced with unsustainable demand, widening health inequalities and outdated care models, it’s no longer enough to treat symptoms without addressing the root causes. The government’s Fit for the Future 10-Year Health Plan calls for radical reform, anchored by a bold new model of care: neighbourhood health services.
This new model shifts away from hospitals and towards local communities. It promises integrated, preventative and digitally enabled care delivered as close to home as possible. Neighbourhood Health Centres will act as local ‘one-stop shops’ where patients can access a range of services supported by multidisciplinary teams. Digital tools will underpin access, giving patients greater control over their care and supporting clinicians to work more efficiently.
But this vision won’t become reality without the right infrastructure supporting practices and PCNs to work smarter, collaborate better and deliver care that’s truly centred around the patient.
What are neighbourhood health services?
At the heart of the 10-Year Plan is a move away from hospital-centric care, which has become fragmented, reactive and difficult to access, particularly for those in disadvantaged areas. Delivering neighbourhood health services offers an alternative: a joined-up, patient-first model that brings care into local communities and uses technology to remove unnecessary steps and delays.
The model is built on three key principles:
- Local and integrated care delivered by teams working across primary, community, mental health and voluntary services
- Digital by default, where appropriate, with the NHS App acting as the front door to services
- Preventative by design, with personalised care plans and earlier interventions based on need and risk
Neighbourhood Health Centres will play a central role, staying open for extended hours and offering same-day access, diagnostics, mental health support and enhanced pharmacy services. The aim is to make care continuous, personalised and accessible without the need for hospital visits unless strictly necessary. To achieve this, practices need scalable, interoperable systems that support communication, collaboration and responsiveness at every level.
How digital access and automation support neighbourhood health services
One of the clearest ambitions of neighbourhood health services is to make it easier for people to get the help they need, when and where they need it. According to government guidance, this includes supporting self-service where appropriate, ensuring patients can access local services beyond the GP, and using technology to remove friction from first contact.
AI-enabled care navigation tools like Surgery Assist directly support this ambition. Designed to sit at the digital front door, it helps patients understand and access the most appropriate route to care, without relying solely on phone-based triage. Whether that’s signposting to Pharmacy First or national charities, Surgery Assist reduces unnecessary calls and re-routes patients to the services already available in their communities. By surfacing local pathways and commissioned services, it reflects how neighbourhood health services are meant to function: removing pressure on practices, unlocking underused resources and helping people take control of their health with 24/7 access.
With care navigation tools signposting patients to local services, practices have increased opportunity to handle more complex patient queries. Cloud telephony systems like Surgery Connect provide the digital backbone to manage demand and extend access in practice. With smart call handling, patient callbacks and support for multi-site coordination, it enables practices to handle surges more effectively while keeping patients informed and connected. As neighbourhood care spans organisations and locations, integrated communications become non-negotiable. Surgery Connect supports that integration from day one.
Inside the consultation, automation has a different role to play in delivering the vision of a neighbourhood NHS. Surgery Intellect, powered by TORTUS, acts as a voice-enabled AI assistant that transcribes clinical notes, referral letters and summaries in real time. Having accurate and readily available documentation means information can be shared more effectively across neighbourhood teams. Meanwhile, with no typing required, clinicians can focus fully on the patient in front of them. This aligns with the NHS’s commitment to reducing admin, improving continuity and freeing up clinical capacity so that more care can be delivered locally, proactively and in a patient-centred way.
Building a proactive, data-driven future for neighbourhood health services
Neighbourhood health services aren’t just about making existing services more convenient. It’s about enabling proactive care where teams can intervene early, allocate resources based on demand, and continuously adapt based on insight.
That’s the role of Surgery Insights, our real-time dashboard that brings together data from across digital touchpoints, clinical systems and operational performance. Practices can track call volumes, appointment patterns, chatbot usage, online consultations, NHS App uptake and more—all in one place. Crucially, they can benchmark against national NHS data to identify outliers and uncover opportunities for improvement. Not only does GP practice data unlock operational efficiency for practices, it enables neighbourhood teams to make data-driven decision-making, improve resource planning and move from reactive fire-fighting to proactive care coordination.
A joined-up foundation for neighbourhood health services
The promise of neighbourhood health services sets out an inspiring blueprint for more equitable, efficient and responsive healthcare. But to deliver it, general practice needs tools that work together across settings and systems, putting patients, not processes, at the centre.
At X-on Health, we are already supporting over 3,500 practices do just that. We’re delivering the access, automation and intelligence needed to power a truly intelligent care navigation system for communities. As neighbourhood health services become the default, we’ll continue to help frontline teams provide care that’s closer to home for all.