Integrated neighbourhood health systems: defining the role of public health

Purpose Integrated neighbourhood health systems aim to bring together healthcare, social care and community resources to improve health outcomes in a defined local area. This article examines why public health approaches are central to neighbourhood health and how they can be incorporated in practice and applied in other settings. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on reflective, practice-based experience of integrating public health into a neighbourhood health system in Worcestershire, UK, the article sets out public health practice across three domains and presents a framework distilled from that practice. The approach is situated against existing research on public health and integrated care, with a focus on collaboration and role clarity. Findings Evidence suggests integrated care often remains overly focused on individual and clinical factors, despite the well documented influence of social determinants on health. Effective collaboration between public health and system partners can be constrained by cultural, conceptual and capacity barriers. A three-domain framework is proposed for public health input into integrated neighbourhood health systems: insight and intelligence, health improvement services and community engagement and development. In Worcestershire, service evaluations reported improvements across a range of participant outcomes, and the neighbourhood-level analysis has been adopted across the local system. Practical implications The framework offers a straightforward way for system partners to define and monitor public health contributions to integrated neighbourhood health work. It also offers insight into key implementation challenges and how they can be overcome. Originality/value The framework provides a practice-focused model for integrating public health into neighbourhood health systems, grounded in both research evidence and real-world experience.