Communities to benefit from neighbourhood health centres on their doorstep
Patients in Long Eaton will benefit from improved healthcare on their doorstep thanks to an upgraded £2.4m neighbourhood health centre.
The centre will enable access to a greater range of health services all under one roof and closer to their homes, including include urgent treatment, GP and pharmacy services.
The centre, one of 27 being rolled out across the country, will bring more services into the community. In addition to health services, in time these centres will also offer wider services like debt advice, employment and family support and other voluntary sector support and will be open 12 hours a day, six days a week.
The 27 will be open by 2027 and are the first of 50 neighbourhood health centres backed by a total of £200 million in government investment to upgrade existing buildings. In total the government has pledged to open 250 by 2035, with the first 120 open by 2030.
Neighbourhood health services will benefit patients by providing end-to-end care and tailored support, looking beyond the condition at wider causes of health issues to the specific individual, helping avoid unnecessary trips to hospital, prevent complications and end the frustration of being passed around the system. This will have particular benefits for people with complex conditions, such as those at the end of their lives.
A range of services under one roof will mean more conditions can be treated swiftly locally – allowing people to talk through their health conditions as well as their lifestyle and quality of life and any other relevant contributing factors, enabling a rapid referral to the appropriate care and support where this is needed.
A spokesperson for the DLN cluster comprising Derby and Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICBs, said:
“We are delighted to be one of the first 27 locations to be getting a neighbourhood health centre. Once opened in 2027, the centre in Long Eaton will make it easier for people to access more joined up care closer to home; by bringing GP services together with a wider range of tailored support, we can help people to get the right care more quickly, close to home, while avoiding unnecessary trips to hospital.
“Focusing this rollout on the areas with the greatest need is essential to reducing health inequalities and improving outcomes for communities that have too often been overlooked. Neighbourhood health centres can genuinely transform care, but only when they are shaped around the people who depend on them most. That requires working in true partnership with local communities to understand what support will have the biggest impact.”
The 27 centres are targeted at areas with higher levels of deprivation in seven regions of England:
1. East of England
2. London
3. Midlands
4. North East and Yorkshire
5. North West
6. South East
7. South West
Existing NHS estates will be repurposed, rapidly refurbished and transformed to offer more services and more appointments, maximising value for money and the taxpayer while cutting the time it takes to get the centres up and running for patients.
As part of its landmark 10 Year Health Plan, the government will deliver a fundamental shift from hospital to community, reducing pressure on hospitals and helping to cut waiting lists, while improving access to healthcare where people live. GP leaders will be pivotal in shaping and delivering these new services and will be supported to deliver it with two new contracts from 2026. These will enable them to work over larger areas to deliver neighbourhood health services to the community.