Government and NHS need to work closer with councils to co-design a modern health and care system that is rooted in prevention, community-led solutions and long-term wellbeing, not just hospital beds and crisis response, the Local Government Association (LGA) says today.
The LGA said councils play a vital, unique role in shaping the conditions for good health, from clean air and housing to education, employment, and early years support. But despite crucial public health services being part of their DNA, local government leaders say they have been sidelined in some key reform and funding decisions.
More than 1,700 councillors, council leaders, senior officers, politicians and organisations will gather for the start of the LGA's Annual Conference in Liverpool today (July 1) to debate key issues, including the NHS 10-year plan.
The LGA said it is good that the plan will set a clear and long-term vision and a defined direction for the future. Any positive shift towards neighbourhood working is critical, but must be built on strong relationships between local government, health and voluntary and community sector leaders.
Councils support the focus on the three shifts that government has set out in its vision for the NHS – analogue to digital; treatment to prevention; and hospitals to community - and share ambitions to scale up prevention and early intervention services.
The LGA is therefore urging ministers to establish a new national-local coalition to help deliver these neighbourhood health models, which put prevention and place at the heart of public services. It says this partnership would unlock cost-effective, integrated interventions, reduce health inequalities and create better outcomes across the country.
Councils say key priorities for government action include ensuring effective integration across NHS and local government; strengthening public health leadership; and eliminating service duplication and cost-shunting. The call follows frustration over a lack of clarity around funding and governance, especially concerning Integrated Care Board (ICB) reforms, safeguarding responsibilities, and pressures on adult social care.
The ambitions of the 10-Year Plan cannot be realised in full if we don’t have an adult social care system that is financially sustainable, funded to be properly preventative, and rooted in personalised care and support. The Government needs to act on adult social care in the short- and medium-term, not wait until the Casey Commission issues its final report in 2028, and local government stands ready and willing to bring its unparalleled experience and expertise to the debate.
With health services for children too often failing local communities, a priority focus on children’s services, SEND, mental health and safeguarding provision is essential.
The LGA said public sector organisations that support health and care also face significant challenges to make better use of technology. It wants mandated, funded partnerships between the NHS and local government to deliver digital innovation alongside a resolution for systemic IT market failures for both electronic patient record technology and local government case management systems.
In her speech to the Annual Conference today, Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the LGA, will say:
“Health does not begin in hospitals – it begins in homes, streets, parks, and schools. The NHS cannot deliver a healthier society on its own".
“Councils are already leading bold, local solutions that work and are key to building a modern, joined-up system that delivers for people.
"A Ministerial Forum, which brings together national and local politicians, would help drive real reform – built from the ground up, based on what our communities need and what already works.”
Image credit: iStock
