Integrated health and social care in Edmonton, Enfield

Key messages

• Edmonton, Enfield is implementing integrated neighbourhood approaches drawing together health, social care and voluntary sector partners to tackle local inequalities and improve wellbeing
• place-based partnerships emphasise community involvement in service design, delivery and evaluation to make services more responsive to local needs
• local engagement work, including Community Powered Edmonton, brings residents, service users, voluntary organisations and statutory partners together to identify priorities and co-produce solutions
• practical actions include targeted campaigns on safety, poverty, social isolation and other determinants that shape health and wellbeing beyond clinical care
• integrated models combine multi-disciplinary teams from primary care, mental health and community services with community partners to support holistic health and reduce inequities.

Policy implications

• neighbourhood health and care planning should embed community engagement and co-production, not just organisational collaboration
• addressing wider determinants (poverty, isolation, safety) alongside clinical services is key to reducing health inequalities
• partnerships need sustained resourcing and governance structures that include voices from voluntary and community sectors
• shared information, workforce development and co-located services can strengthen integrated working at neighbourhood scale.

Gaps

• local documentation and community engagement reports are largely descriptive, with limited consistent outcome measurement
• evidence of long-term impact on health outcomes or inequalities at neighbourhood level is limited
• systematic evaluation of integrated models in Edmonton and similar boroughs is needed to inform broader policy.

Commentary
The Edmonton area within Enfield offers an example of how neighbourhood health and care integration is being shaped through community engagement and partnerships, involving residents, voluntary organisations, local councils and health and social care providers. This place-based work brings into focus people’s lived experience and local priorities, recognising that health is shaped by social determinants such as poverty, safety and isolation, not only clinical care.

Community Powered Edmonton demonstrates the value of co-production. By bringing community members into discussions about what matters for health and wellbeing, including through workshops and focus groups, partners aim to design services that reflect local needs and strengthen trust. Such approaches align with equity goals by centring not just on access to services but responsiveness to diverse lived experience.

Partnership structures in Enfield, as outlined by the borough partnership approach, seek to integrate workforce, planning and digital resources to support neighbourhood teams. While this local practice reflects broader neighbourhood health ambitions, persistent inequalities and resource constraints highlight the need for sustained investment and evaluation to understand impact on outcomes.

From a care equity perspective, Edmonton’s experience shows the potential of an asset-based, community-informed neighbourhood working to reach populations that traditional models struggle to engage. However, without consistent metrics and long-term evaluation, it remains challenging to quantify the extent to which integration initiatives reduce inequities over time.