Creating a health hub in Whitehawk: East and Central Brighton PCN's learning about neighbourhood care
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In April 2024, East and Central Brighton Primary Care Network (PCN) set out to create a health hub in Whitehawk, one of Brighton’s most deprived areas. The team is driven by a deep commitment to social justice, believing that individual health reflects the social context of people's lives. By providing holistic, person-centred services that address the wider determinants of health, the team aims to assist those with the most need to take control of their wellbeing, rather than feeling dependent on services. This approach is an important experiment, in anticipation of the expected focus on neighbourhood health in the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan.
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The health hub at Robert Lodge
For the PCN team, organising weekly drop-in sessions that bring various professionals into community locations was one way to address health inequalities at a neighbourhood level. The team wanted to move away from traditional referrals and waiting lists to a more responsive model, enabling people to access support at the point of need. They wanted to involve statutory and voluntary sector partners in creating a sustainable approach, aligned to a regional integration strategy that strengthened community resilience and eased pressure on local GP services.
In October 2024, the hub opened in the community hall on the Robert Lodge estate, serving as a ‘laboratory’ to find out how to realise these ambitions. Every Friday, Whitehawk residents can now see physiotherapists, debt and benefits advisers, nurses, mental health practitioners, social prescribers, clinical pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and occupational therapists without an appointment. Instead of waiting for sequential referrals to see professionals, people can access brief interventions from a multi-disciplinary team, accessing immediate help, information, education and referrals to specialists. This approach can improve both health outcomes and efficiency, as well as relieving pressure on already stretched GP services.
The team’s key learning and advice for leadership teams
Be clear on purpose: ensure you understand the purpose of what you are trying to achieve so that you can make a compelling case to others. When you find others who share your goals, find ways to work and learn together.
Engage early: simply creating the hub doesn’t mean people will use it. You need a responsive communication approach based on a deep understanding of local needs. With communities, this means finding out what people need, keeping messaging simple and in familiar formats, and forming networks of local champions to spread awareness and build trust. With system partners, it means aligning the hub’s mission with local strategies, describing how it will help to meet partners’ own goals, and providing regular progress updates to help strengthen buy-in and support.
Choose the right venue: venues need to be accessible and welcoming. Consider transport, signage and layout to make dropping in work. A mix of open and private spaces means services can be provided in a variety of ways. (Funding constraints may mean compromises are needed.)
Start small, test, stay flexible: each hub’s context is unique, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Implement basic protocols from day one and refine them over time based on real-time feedback. Capture learning from the outset, reflect on it using the diversity of thinking and experience in the team, scale up what works and let go of what doesn’t.
Support staff to adapt: some professionals may be anxious about drop-in models, compared with the structure they are used to. Involve staff in designing the offer, encourage experimentation, provide training and celebrate early wins to help people feel comfortable and build confidence.
Focus on learning: management teams, in particular, need to stay curious, creative and flexible, to notice, make sense of and respond to the unexpected, all while staying focused on building both high-quality services and strong relationships with communities, partners and staff. Create spaces for developing and refining ideas, and for reflecting on how you are working together. While they developed and implemented the hub, the PCN team met in a monthly action learning set to reflect on their progress and relationships and to plan what they would do next. This was facilitated by The King’s Fund and sponsored by NHS Sussex Integrated Care System.
How is it going?
The outcomes of the health hub in Whitehawk aren’t easily measurable in the short term, but data collection from day one is crucial for the experimental approach. From the outset, the team measured footfall, time spent and interventions received, and collected feedback from service users and staff. Attendance is increasing steadily, with 98% of 150 respondents so far saying they got what they came for, and 56% saying it avoided a GP attendance.
Feedback about the hub is heartening. Some say it’s what they’ve needed for years – appreciating both the ease with which they are able to access multiple services at once and the friendly, positive environment created by staff. This contributes to a more hopeful outlook for the community and motivates staff to continue innovating.
Where next?
The team wants to expand the offer to include advice, for example housing, substance misuse, and carers support, and improve the experience by introducing a ‘passport’ to track interactions and personal action plans. They aim to create more health hubs across Brighton, involving more partners, and welcome collaboration with others across England working on similar projects. Get in touch here.
Community-led approaches to health and wellbeing
Explore how to make communities true partners in improving health outcomes and how changes like neighbourhood health and devolution open new opportunities for local leadership.
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