Published on: 19 September 2025
Sunderland has been chosen as one of the locations to help lead a local health revolution.
The city has been among the first in England to develop a pioneering new approach to healthcare.
This follows a Government accouncement on a new programme to provide 'healthcare on people's doorstep' through new neighbourhood teams.
Sunderland, alongside Stockton-on-Tees, also in the North East, are among 43 locations in the first wave of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme. These aim to tackle inequalities and improve health in communities.
The successful bids were backed by North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and Sunderland City Council.
They worked alongside us at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, other NHS Trusts, Primary Care Networks, universities, and voluntary and community sector partners.
They were also supported by North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen.
This radical new approach will transform care by creating neighbourhood health teams, with community nurses, hospital doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, paramedics, social prescribers, local government organisations and the voluntary sector all working together at local level.
Patients who might otherwise get trapped in a cycle of hospital admissions and see many different clinicians will instead receive end-to-end care and tailored support nearer to their homes.
Neighbourhood teams will look at the wider causes of a person's health problems, reducing hospital trips, preventing complications and avoiding the frustration of being passed around the system.
Samantha Allen is Chief Executive of NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).
She said:
"We are always keen to be at the forefront of improving healthcare, so we are thrilled to have both Stockton and Sunderland as part of the first wave of this major national programme. There's a lot of good work already in place, so we have a strong base to build on.
"With integrated teams working in neighbourhoods, we can bring services closer to communities and reduce inequalities in health. There's been huge interest across our region, and over time we want to make sure every part of the North East and North Cumbria can benefit."
People in both areas live with long-standing challenges such as low levels of healthy life expectancy, significant deprivation, and high rates of long-term conditions.
Healthy life expectancy in Sunderland is among the lowest in England – just 56 years in good health for men compared to 63 nationally.
The programme will expand the award-winning 'One Sunderland' approach to supporting frail patients, which brings together GPs, nurses, social care, mental health, and voluntary sector partners to support people at home.
New neighbourhood health centres will be set up alongside GP practices, family hubs, women’s health hubs and community venues, with increased use of data helping identify residents at risk earlier and provide proactive, personalised support to help them stay healthy for longer.
Councillor Kelly Chequer is Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Safer Communities at Sunderland City Council.
She said:
"We’re really pleased that Sunderland is one of the first places in the country chosen to try out this new way of bringing health care closer to home. This is all about making health care easier to reach, more joined-up, and better for everyone.
"It means people in our city will get help to stay healthy for longer by making it easier to get a wide range of healthcare on their doorstep instead of having to travel outside of their community.
"Local health teams will work together to make sure people get the right support in their own neighbourhoods. This builds on the good work we’ve already done in Sunderland, like our Family Health Hubs and Women’s Health Hubs, to help more people across our city benefit from this new approach."
Stockton and Sunderland will both become national learning sites when work gets underway later this year. This means that other areas will keen to learn from their work and successes as the programme develops.
