Home Link Logo
Login

Integrated health and social care in Edmonton, Enfield

Local learning on health and social care integration in Edmonton, London, focusing on community engagement, partnerships and action to improve local health outcomes and address inequalities.

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.

Working together to improve health in Fleetwood

A case study describing an integrated neighbourhood approach to improving health outcomes in Fleetwood, a deprived seaside community in Lancashire.

Key messages

  • the initiative focuses on integrated neighbourhood working in a community with high levels of deprivation
  • health, social care, local authority and community partners collaborate to address local health challenges
  • place-based approaches are used to respond to the specific needs of a seaside community
  • partnership working aims to improve access, coordination and responsiveness of services
  • tackling wider determinants of health is a central component of the local approach.

Policy implications

  • neighbourhood health and care models can support targeted action in areas facing entrenched disadvantage
  • collaboration across statutory and community partners is critical to addressing complex local needs
  • flexible, place-based approaches may be more effective than standardised service models
  • sustained investment is likely to be required to achieve long-term improvements in deprived coastal areas.

Gaps

  • evidence is largely descriptive
  • limited outcome data on health improvements or reductions in inequalities
  • lack of long-term evaluation of impact and sustainability.

Commentary
This case study shows how neighbourhood health and care approaches can be applied in a deprived coastal community. Fleetwood faces distinct challenges linked to deprivation, access to services and wider social determinants of health, making it a relevant setting for place-based integration.

By bringing together health, social care and community partners, the initiative seeks to coordinate support around local priorities. From a care equity perspective, this collaborative approach has the potential to improve access and responsiveness for populations that experience poorer health outcomes.

The focus on local context is particularly important. Seaside and coastal communities often face structural disadvantages that are not fully addressed through standard service models. Neighbourhood approaches allow services to be shaped around these specific circumstances.

However, the evidence presented is primarily descriptive. While the case study offers useful insights into partnership working and local delivery, further evaluation would be needed to understand its impact on health outcomes and inequalities over time.