In the 10 Year Health Plan for England, the NHS has set out a need to move to a neighbourhood health service that will deliver more care at home or closer to home. This is a new way of delivering health and care services that focuses on supporting people in their local communities and helping them stay well for longer. This plan follows multiple pilot programmes and looks to create a joined-up way of working. The framework looks to enable two of the ‘shifts’ laid out in the 10 Year Health Plan – from hospital to community, and sickness to prevention by creating an environment where the NHS, Local Authorities and wider local partners work together.
We at EK360 wanted to explore what factors might influence the public’s perception of neighbourhood health to inform local conversations about introducing the concept across Kent and Medway.
In March 2026, we asked our Voice Connect panel, which currently consists of over 900 residents of Kent and Medway, what aspects of neighbourhood care would be most important to them.
42% of our Voices Connect panel said ‘Service Accessibility’ was the factor that would have greatest influence in their perception of neighbourhood health, showing that shorter travel times, availability of local clinics, and integrated services is most important to Kent and Medway residents.
Public perceptions of service accessibility within the NHS show a mixed picture. EK360 continues to hear from the public about the challenges in accessing GPs, waiting times for treatment pathways and growing concern about the levels of corridor care and A&E waiting times. The top priority for the public remains improving GP access.
37% of people said that better quality of local NHS services, increased responsiveness to community needs, and satisfaction of carers was the factor that would have greatest influence in their perception of neighbourhood health.
The British Social Attitudes survey published in March 2025 has found that levels of optimism that NHS care will get better is at an all-time low, with only 16% of people feeling standard of NHS care will improve in the next 5 years. The public’s perception of neighbourhood health could play an important role in this.
Other elements of neighbourhood health were felt to be of lesser importance:
8% of people said that they felt Digital Tools and Innovation such as adoption of telehealth, digital consultations, and health tracking had a positive influence in their perception of good neighbourhood health.
7% of people said that opportunities for neighbourhood engagement in decision-making, and visible public health campaigns were an important factor in neighbour health
7% of people said that better neighbourhood health that addresses wider societal factors, increases social cohesion and improves environmental conditions, was something they considered important.
We have, this week, spoken to a person accessing the Lordswood Healthy Living Centre and their experience illustrates what people value in neighbourhood health.
My husband has Parkinsons and Epilepsy. We have annual visits from the Parkinsons team, and they report back to the Neurologist. They are always at the end of the phone, and we know the nurses by name. They are very helpful, it's tremendous. The Palliative care team at Lordswood Healthy Living Centre are so responsive. We also had a social prescriber visit us last week. She talked to my husband about tracking his bowel movements, we had a laugh - she was really easy to talk to. We also have home visits through NHS continuing healthcare, and the nurse assessor is brilliant. We have a team of people who know us and know me and we're able to email or call them with any issues. I came to the Healthy Living Centre today to have a B12 injection. [The nurse] is amazing. He knows me and my husband by name and asks me how I am rather than focusing on me caring for my husband. The fact that he knows us by name makes it personal, it makes you feel like a person, not another box to tick.
