The National Cancer Plan sets out a modern cancer care model that is more personalised, coordinated and delivered closer to home where clinically appropriate. The Neighbourhood Health Service will support delivery of this model by bringing elements of cancer care into community settings such as neighbourhood health centres, alongside other local services.

Multi-disciplinary neighbourhood teams will coordinate care around the individual, including those with blood cancer, helping to reduce fragmentation between services, improve integration across health and community provision, and better align care with people’s day-to-day lives.

Furthermore, in 2025, we published Standardising Community Services which provides an overview of community health services. Further guidance was published in February 2026, providing more detailed descriptions of the core components of community health services for integrated care boards, and a copy of this is attached.

Clear definitions of core community health services will enable systems to measure demand, capacity and workforce, and streamline services to reduce unwarranted variations, including for cancer care. This guidance will also support commissioners in making investment choices when designing neighbourhood health services and in moving more care into the community.

We need to ensure that staff across the health and care system are supported to work as effectively as possible for their populations, in joined-up, integrated neighbourhood teams. That is why neighbourhood health is designed to support them, by bringing professionals together in new neighbourhood teams to cut duplication and use digital tools to make their day-to-day work more efficient so they can focus on patient care.

The National Cancer Plan sets out a modern cancer care model that is more personalised, coordinated and delivered closer to home where clinically appropriate. The Neighbourhood Health Service will support delivery of this model by bringing elements of cancer care into community settings such as neighbourhood health centres, alongside other local services.

Multi-disciplinary neighbourhood teams will coordinate care around the individual, including those with blood cancer, helping to reduce fragmentation between services, improve integration across health and community provision, and better align care with people’s day-to-day lives.

Furthermore, in 2025, we published Standardising Community Services which provides an overview of community health services. Further guidance was published in February 2026, providing more detailed descriptions of the core components of community health services for integrated care boards, and a copy of this is attached.

Clear definitions of core community health services will enable systems to measure demand, capacity and workforce, and streamline services to reduce unwarranted variations, including for cancer care. This guidance will also support commissioners in making investment choices when designing neighbourhood health services and in moving more care into the community.

We need to ensure that staff across the health and care system are supported to work as effectively as possible for their populations, in joined-up, integrated neighbourhood teams. That is why neighbourhood health is designed to support them, by bringing professionals together in new neighbourhood teams to cut duplication and use digital tools to make their day-to-day work more efficient so they can focus on patient care.

We know that people are waiting too long for community services. That is why, for the first time, we have set a clear target for systems to work to reduce long waits. By 2028/29, at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.

In 2025, we published Standardising Community Health Services which provides an overview of core community health services. Setting clear expectations of the core community health services, integrated care boards will support consistent delivery of community health services and effective commissioning, and will improve patient access to care.

NHS England works with local systems, including integrated care boards, to manage demand and mitigate the impact of waiting times on patients, particularly in areas of highest clinical risk. Community health services waiting time data is monitored nationally through NHS England's monthly Community Health Services Situation Report.

The following table sets out the revenue spend categories for the specified services commissioned by NHS England and clinical commissioning groups, now integrated care boards, using audited figures between 2015/16 to 2024/25:

Notes:

1. delegated specialised commissioning has been included within the specialised commissioning line as well as directly commissioned spec comm to remain consistent with previous years; and
2. prescribing and delegated pharmacy/ophthalmology/primary and secondary dental all sit within the ‘other’ category.

Information for 2025/26 is unvalidated and not quality assured. In-year data is not routinely reported on with the breakdown of spend used for this answer and would be subject to material change between plan and outturn as a result.

75% of NHS England commissioned social services are within the community services line.

NHS England is responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to integrated care boards (ICBs). NHS England’s allocations policy aims to support equal opportunity of access for equal need, as well as NHS England’s duties to reduce health inequalities that are amenable to healthcare.

The Medium Term Planning Framework sets out the priority deliverables and the reform opportunities that ICBs and providers need to deliver for the next three years and the broader strategic aims that will need to be reflected in five year plans developed by each organisation. This includes expectations on prevention, and on neighbourhood health, including primary and community care. Further guidance on neighbourhood health has also been set out in the subsequent Neighbourhood health framework.

We recognise that corridor care is unacceptable and should not become a normal part of National Health Service care. It reflects pressure across the whole urgent and emergency care pathway, including in hospitals and across wider health and care services. As part of delivering the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/2026, the Government and NHS England have provided over £450 million of capital investment to expand urgent and emergency care capacity, and we introduced a maximum 45-minute standard to tackle unacceptable ambulance handover delays. We have also published new national clinical standards, including Model Emergency Department, The Model Acute Pathway, and the Model Discharge Pathway, supporting more consistent, high‑quality care and improved flow through hospitals.

The Medium-Term Planning Framework sets out a clear three-year trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year toward the waiting time standards set out in the NHS Constitution, reducing long waits and improving patient experience. This is backed by a further £1.9 billion of capital investment between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support improvements to emergency departments, Same Day Emergency Care, urgent treatment centres, ambulance infrastructure, and additional bed capacity where appropriate.

We are also expanding neighbourhood health services and virtual wards to support more patients to receive care closer to home where clinically appropriate. Additionally, in February 2026, the Government published guidance setting out new arrangements for the Better Care Fund, requiring NHS integrated care boards and local authorities to pool over £9 billion of funding to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and reduce delayed hospital discharges with more integrated health and social care services.

The Government has already made progress in increasing the number of frontline staff, improving working conditions, and making the NHS a rewarding and fulfilling place to work. However, we must go further. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will help ensure the NHS has the skilled workforce needed to deliver high-quality care for patients.

NHS England's Culture of Care Standards reference Open Dialogue as an evidence-based approach for use in inpatient mental health, learning disability, and autism settings. NHS England is currently evaluating the national Culture of Care Programme, which is based on these standards, to understand the programme’s impact and to inform future improvement. The standards remain and are expected to be maintained, and are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/culture-of-care-standards-for-mental-health-inpatient-services/#core-commitments-and-standards-for-the-culture-of-inpatient-care

Additionally, Open Dialogue: Development and Evaluation of a Social Network Intervention for Severe Mental Illness (ODDESSI) is a large-scale programme of research into crisis and continuing mental health care within the National Health Service. It is evaluating whether Open Dialogue can be developed and delivered within NHS services in a way that is acceptable to staff, including peers, and service users, and whether it can be effectively integrated into existing services. The trial is also assessing whether Open Dialogue leads to improved clinical outcomes and represents value for money, as well as examining the experiences of service users, carers, and staff. Further information on ODDESSI is available at the following link:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/brain-sciences/pals/research/clinical-educational-and-health-psychology/research-groups/oddessi/oddessi-trial?__cf_chl_f_tk=LqTELNtUicWc7eZEBO_Q5S6Hzak9g0RT00eIA4LWmto-1782982530-1.0.1.1-y6sBxJzGpuB1v30bw67yXMurhKbjuVH6GivWhF3F_7Q

The updated service specification will be published in due course. It will support ongoing action to increase home dialysis provision in line with the Renal Services Transformation Programme ambition for at least 20% of patients to be treated at home, including through strengthened early patient education, standardised pre-dialysis pathways, and multidisciplinary care models that enable shared decision-making.

The specification will include defined metrics for commissioned providers, including the proportion of dialysis patients receiving home-based therapies, supporting formal assessment against the ambition of achieving at least 20% uptake.

This is complemented by improvements to operational processes, including home assessments and installation pathways, to ensure patients can access home therapies in a timely and consistent way.

The updated service specification will be published in due course. It will support ongoing action to increase home dialysis provision in line with the Renal Services Transformation Programme ambition for at least 20% of patients to be treated at home, including through strengthened early patient education, standardised pre-dialysis pathways, and multidisciplinary care models that enable shared decision-making.

The specification will include defined metrics for commissioned providers, including the proportion of dialysis patients receiving home-based therapies, supporting formal assessment against the ambition of achieving at least 20% uptake.

This is complemented by improvements to operational processes, including home assessments and installation pathways, to ensure patients can access home therapies in a timely and consistent way.

Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care have regular discussions with HM Treasury colleagues, including my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on a range of health and care matters.

As my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out at the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government is delivering the largest health capital budget on record, rising to £15.2 billion by the end of the Spending Review period of 2029/30.

As part of the Government’s wider health reform agenda and shift towards prevention, funding has been provided to support community-based services, including over £280 million of capital investment into community care over four years from 2026/27.

Additionally, the Government has committed to delivering 250 neighbourhood health centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. The first 120, comprising of 50 upgrades to the current estate and 70 new buildings, are due to be operational by 2030. We are backing this with over £400 million to upgrade the existing estate to deliver approximately 50 NHCs and to continue improving the primary care estate over the next four years, from 2026/27.