Chris Gill, managing Director at Kajima Partnerships, explores how to make the neighbourhood health plan work

 

The Government’s newly launched 10-Year Health Plan marks a significant shift in how healthcare will be delivered in the UK.

With the creation of a ‘neighbourhood health service’, the ambition is clear: move care out of hospitals and into communities, making it more accessible, preventative, and personalised.

But turning this vision into reality will require more than policy; it requires delivery models that are fast, flexible, and financially sustainable.

This is where smaller, smarter healthcare infrastructure projects can have a big impact.

I, like many, have spent many hours in A&E – whether with my young children or other family members – alongside patients facing far-more-serious conditions.

The lack of smaller, close-by facilities makes the case for community alternatives starkly apparent.

A minor injuries unit could provide the diagnosis and treatment in a much-shorter and efficient timeframe, freeing up valuable A&E resources for critical emergencies.

The challenge now is how to build them quickly, affordably, and at scale.

The concept of ‘healthcare on the high street’ is no longer aspirational – it’s become policy. And it’s a policy that can regenerate town centres, reduce hospital waiting lists, and improve health outcomes all at once

Community healthcare hubs are the fastest route to meaningful relief for our overstretched health services.

Facilities like minor injury units and diagnostic centres can handle up to 80% of A&E visits without requiring a full hospital setting.

Crucially, they can be operational in a significantly-shorter timeframe than it takes to deliver a major hospital.

Take Lisburn, in Northern Ireland, where Kajima Partnerships delivered a £40m primary care centre for the NHS that united eight GP practices and a range of services under one roof.

Or Bicester, where a community hospital combining ambulance services, imaging, and physiotherapy, was constructed in just 14 months.

These projects prove that rapid deployment doesn’t mean compromising on quality.

The Government’s plan rightly emphasises the need to ‘rebuild the NHS to train thousands more family doctors’ and ‘bring care closer to home’.

But these new GPs and neighbourhood teams need somewhere to work. And that means building the infrastructure now, not in five years.

This is where public-private partnerships (PPPs) have a vital role to play.

Smaller projects reduce investment barriers, with capital requirements in the tens of millions, rather than hundreds.

Kajima has seen firsthand how PPPs can deliver faster, more-resilient outcomes, backed by guaranteed budgets and driven by clinical need, not political cycles

This opens the door to a broader range of investors, including local authorities and healthcare-focused funds.

Kajima has seen firsthand how PPPs can deliver faster, more-resilient outcomes, backed by guaranteed budgets and driven by clinical need, not political cycles.

Private capital also brings discipline. Projects are delivered on time and on budget, without the mid-construction compromises that plague traditional procurement.

And with the Government’s plan calling for a shift from ‘analogue to digital’, private partners can help integrate cutting-edge technologies, from AI scribes in GP practices to digital-first consultations, into the very fabric of new facilities.

Planning policy must now catch up.

Local authorities should prioritise healthcare in regeneration schemes, offering fast-track approvals for community health hubs.

Small, community-based hubs offer a route to meaningful improvement – if we’re prepared to act. The Government has set the direction. Now it’s time to deliver

The Government, in turn, can incentivise delivery speed by matching funding to outcomes thereby rewarding quick wins that align with long-term strategy.

The concept of ‘healthcare on the high street’ is no longer aspirational – it’s become policy. And it’s a policy that can regenerate town centres, reduce hospital waiting lists, and improve health outcomes all at once.

But to make it work, we need to think beyond the allure of grand infrastructure announcements.

The NHS cannot afford to wait for the next generation of super-hospitals.

Small, community-based hubs offer a route to meaningful improvement – if we’re prepared to act.

The Government has set the direction. Now it’s time to deliver.