Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Integrated Care Board which provided an update on the Neighbourhood actions taking place across Leicestershire, the work of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme and the Leicestershire respiratory Story. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the report the following points were noted:

(i)           The concept of neighbourhood working was not new, and NHS and partners in Leicestershire had done this in part for some time. Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) were already well established in Leicestershire. However, there was not consistency in approach to neighbourhood working across Leicestershire and an understanding of how much variation in approach was acceptable.

(ii)         In July 2025 NHS England invited Integrated Care Boards to take part in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP). The aim of the NNHIP was to accelerate the work already being carried out in neighbourhoods. It was agreed with NHS England that West Leicestershire would be an implementer site and the work in that area would focus on respiratory illness. The reason for this was that respiratory illness was one of the leading causes of emergency admissions in England and 2% of people living in West Leicestershire had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, whilst 13.7% had asthma. It was hoped that this work would reduce a significant amount of emergency admissions and ease winter pressures on health services.

(iii)        Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs) were now being created involving partners from University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL), Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT), Leicestershire County Council and the out of hours provider Derbyshire Health United. It was hoped that the INTs and MDTs would work closely together with a view to coming together as one team in the future. District Nurses and Senior Nurse for Complex Care were part of the MDTs. Consideration was still being given to what other roles would be required within the MDTs.

(iv)       The NNHIP work looked to increase the number of patients undertaking Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) reviews, improve flu vaccine update, and improve inhaler technique.

(v)         The work would also tackle air quality, damp homes and flooding in west Leicestershire. District Council housing services were part of the INTs so could help with this work.

(vi)       The NNHIP work in Leicestershire did not currently cover children and young people because it was difficult to identify the children with the relevant conditions, but risk stratification work was taking place in this regard and it was expected that in future children would become part of the Programme.

(vii)      The learning and resources from the West Leicestershire implementer programme would be shared with the rest of Leicestershire.

(viii)    Board members welcomed the neighbourhood working and collaborative approach being used and recognised the impact that the respiratory work could have. It was understood why respiratory conditions were the focus of the NNHIP given the criteria set by NHS England and the short timescale for that particular programme. It was noted that there had been an early respiratory spike in Leicestershire for the winter 2025/26 which meant that there was likely to be a second spike and therefore urgent action needed to be taken. However, members suggested that partners might wish to focus on other health issues for the wider neighbourhood work being carried out across Leicestershire and particular localities might have their own priorities. In response it was clarified that the neighbourhood work was part of a 10 year programme which could evolve over the long term. It was unlikely that all the neighbourhoods in Leicestershire would focus on respiratory illnesses. Data packs would be issued to help identify what the focus should be for specific localities.

(ix)       Concerns were raised by a Board member that with partners having different strategies there could be duplication or contradictory work. It was suggested that there needed to be a more long-term strategic approach and link up between strategies. In response reference was made to the Model Neighbourhood Plan which was due to be published shortly. Reassurance was also given that the refresh of the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy had taken into account the neighbourhood work and attempted to align the work from different strategies.

RESOLVED:

That the Board supports the work of the implementer neighbourhood site in West Leicestershire and the focus on respiratory illness, recognises the commitment to roll this out across the whole County, whilst also recognising there may be priority changes and a need to focus on different health issues in the future.