Last week (25 November) the Government launched the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild programme, which will aim to deliver Neighbourhood Health Centres through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years. This supports the Governments 10 Year Health Plan in delivering more accessible care closer to home.
As part of the Neighbourhood Rebuild programme, five Community Health Partnerships (CHP) led projects have been included in this national programme. This reinforces the vital role of NHS LIFT facilities in supporting local integrated care provision, with the majority of LIFT assets located in some of the country’s most deprived neighbourhoods. With access to capital investment and the ability to implement project variations at pace, CHP through its LIFT portfolio is well positioned to drive a nationwide Neighbourhood Health Service.
Unlocking the potential of the NHS LIFT estate
Over the past year, CHP’s Productivity Acceleration in Community Estates (PACE) Programme has been delivering improvements across the NHS LIFT estate to support an integrated Neighbourhood Health Service across communities. By enhancing utilisation and productivity through variations, adaptations, and modifications in existing spaces at speed, this has enabled greater service delivery, benefiting many patients and their families.
Working collaboratively with Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and their partners, the PACE Programme focuses on
- Increase patient activity across the CHP primary care estate
- Drive up optimistion and revitilise underutlised space across the
- Enable improved place-based and integrted care across the CHP portfolio
- Reduced cost per patient episode, delivering enhanced value for money
- Improved health outcomes for many local communities
- Secure the future of LIFT assets, as core, vibrant community hubs
As systems work to establish Neighbourhood Health Services and deliver the Government’s healthcare ambitions, it is more important than ever to maximise the use of existing estate. The LIFT portfolio offers significant opportunities to rapidly transform spaces into clinical or specialist environments, and in many instances enabling care to move from hospitals into local community settings.
Through close collaboration with system partners, including ICBs, ICSs, Trusts, community providers, VCSE and local authorities, we have already successfully delivered multiple PACE Programme project variations, resulting in increased service capacity and patient throughput.
The majority of these variations have been made possible through CHP’s capital funding for major projects and, for smaller enhancements, through CHP’s minor works budget, ensuring flexibility and speed in meeting evolving healthcare needs and further support the Neighbourhood model.
In some cases, our spaces have required little to no modification, allowing services to move in quickly by reorganising existing layouts to streamline care and improve building flow. A recent example is Hodge Hill Primary Care Centre, where several services were integrated within months with minimal changes to the existing space.
Since its launch in 2024, the PACE Programme has secured commitments from 20 ICB partners. Through collaborative working, the system and CHP can identify key priorities, overcome challenges and barriers, and, in some cases, provide CHP capital funding.
This approach enables better optimisation of the existing estate, enhances service delivery, and ultimately improves patient care.
The ICB areas already committed to the programme include:
- West Yorkshire
- Humber and North Yorkshire
- North East and North Cumbria
- South Yorkshire
- Cheshire and Merseyside
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire and South Cumbria
- Birmingham and Solihull
- Black Country
- Coventry and Warwickshire
- Derby and Derbyshire
- Leicester Leicestershire & Rutland
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
- North Central London
- North West London
- South East London
- South West London
- Kent and Medway
- Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
- Suffolk and North East Essex
Improving efficiency through a data led approach
To support the PACE Programme, the development of PACE Plans are currently underway. PACE Plans are a proactive data-led approach to identify, adapt and drive utilisation of the LIFT estate, working in conjunction with ICSs to allow them to make sensible and informed decisions across their LIFT portfolio.
The development of PACE Plans comes at a pivotal moment. These plans will help ensure that the LIFT estate remains core to the ongoing delivery of healthcare services, as CHP works to secure the long-term future of the estate.
In the coming months, a PACE Plan will be developed for every LIFT building, providing a complete, data-driven view of each site. These plans will include the following:
- utilisation information
- types of services currently delivered
- costs
- leasing arrangements
They will also incorporate local context and clinical insights from ICSs, helping to identify opportunities for place-based care and ensuring every building is used to its full potential – creating a holistic picture of how each building currently operates. Systems are already benefiting from these plans, gaining clearer insight into their LIFT estate and enabling efficient forward planning.
Next Steps
Our Productivity Leads are actively working with systems to develop a plan for each LIFT area and site.
If you are an ICS or ICB with LIFT coverage, your local Productivity Lead will be in touch, if they haven’t already done so to collaborate on creating a PACE Plan for your LIFT facility.
If have any questions on the PACE Programme or would like to find out more about the PACE Plans, please contact your local Productivity Lead or CHP Regional Director.
CHP Regional Directors
| London | Siobhan Harper | |
| Midlands | James Weaver | j.weaver@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
| North East | Dr Jane Fitch | j.fitch@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
| North West | Jeanette Leach | j.leach@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
| South and East | Simon Waters |
CHP Strategic Estates Productivity Leads
| Region | CHP contact | |
|---|---|---|
| London | Harry Dodd, Strategic Productivity Estates Lead | h.dodd@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
| Angela Kam, Strategic Productivity Estates Lead | a.kam@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk | |
| Midlands | Guy Carson, Strategic Productivity Estates Lead | g.carson@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
| Payal Patel, Estates Productivity Lead | p.patel@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk | |
| North East | Nicola Bolton, Strategic Productivity Estates Lead | n.bolton@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
| Saiqa Ali, Strategic Estates Productivity Lead | s.ali@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk | |
| North west | Julia Norsworthy, Strategic Estates Productivity Lead | j.norsworthy@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
| Derek Samuel, Strategic Estates Productivity Lead | d.samuel@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk | |
| South and East | Jessica Leslie, Strategic Estates Productivity Lead | j.leslie@communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk |
Read more Insights from CHP
Read more about our insights on core asset optimisation, place-based care and how CHP supports sustainable NHS infrastructure to enable care for patients closer to home in their local neighbourhoods.
