Morning, Tuesday, 2nd March 2027
Online
This conference focuses on next steps for prevention in England’s health and care system, examining the practical requirements for shifting care and resources towards earlier intervention and reducing avoidable illness. Discussion will draw on early experience of neighbourhood health services to examine the commissioning, funding and workforce arrangements on which delivery depends, innovation and the use of diagnostics, genomics and data to identify risk earlier, and public health priorities, including approaches to reducing major risk factors for preventable illness.
It will bring together stakeholders and policymakers to consider the next stages of implementing the shift from sickness to prevention set out in the 10 Year Health Plan for England. The Neighbourhood Health Framework, published in March 2026, establishes minimum requirements for more integrated provision across primary care, community health, public health and social care, with the first neighbourhood health plans due from 2027/28.
Delegates will examine priorities for organising services around local needs, the respective roles of commissioners, providers and local partners, and the scope for local decision-making. The agenda will also consider proposals in the Health Bill to abolish NHS England and redistribute its functions, and the implications for accountability, clinical leadership and patient involvement.
Looking at the practical requirements for implementing these changes, delegates will consider the allocation of resources and the capacity of services to take on additional responsibilities. Discussion will assess approaches to directing investment towards prevention while hospitals remain under financial pressure, integrated care boards undergo restructuring, and general practice and community services face increasing expectations. There will also be consideration of the funding and workforce needs of local partners, including concerns about additional pressures without corresponding resources, and the implications for access and continuity of care.
Further sessions will examine priorities and approaches for reducing preventable illness and improving healthy life expectancy, against a background of recent declines and a gap of around 20 years between England’s most and least deprived areas. Delegates will consider the contribution of public health measures and personalised interventions, alongside developments in earlier diagnosis and identifying health risks.
The conference will also assess the evidence for public health and personalised approaches to prevention, including the use of new technologies to identify and manage risk, their acceptability to patients and clinicians, and the practicalities of making effective interventions more widely available. Priorities for research and innovation will be considered, including how longer-term improvements in health, demand for services and wider economic outcomes can be demonstrated and reflected in commissioning and investment decisions.
Neighbourhood health delivery, system reform & local accountability
With neighbourhood health moving towards formal local planning, delegates will assess lessons from early implementation, the arrangements for more integrated services and the implications of changes to national and local responsibilities.
Areas for discussion include:
- neighbourhood planning:
- early experience of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme - priorities for local plans from 2027/28
- adapting provision to different communities
- general practice & local services: the role of GPs and neighbourhood providers - implications of the GP contract dispute - continuity of care and access, including in rural and underserved areas
- integrated provision:
- multidisciplinary teams and coordination across NHS, council and voluntary and community services
- responsibilities for patients with complex needs - avoiding additional pressures on other parts of the system
- system reform: implications of the Health Bill and ICB restructuring for local decision-making, clinical leadership and accountability
- public engagement:
- involvement of patients and communities in service planning and priorities
- the future of independent patient representation following proposals to abolish Healthwatch - patient choice and confidence
Public health, major risk factors & health inequalities
The agenda will consider priorities for reducing preventable illness through national measures, local services and action on wider determinants of health, including approaches to reaching communities with the poorest outcomes.
Areas for discussion include:
- tobacco & vaping: implementation of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, including the generational sales ban - enforcement and retailer requirements - smoking cessation support
- obesity & prevention:
- access to weight-management services and medicines, including tirzepatide - clinical capacity and inequalities in provision
- food policy, industry responsibilities and healthier choices
- earlier intervention: vaccination, screening and earlier diagnosis - identifying cardiovascular and metabolic risks - priorities for effective preventative programmes
- public health services: local authority funding and delivery priorities - capacity for children's health and other community programmes - the contribution of public health expertise
- inequalities & wider determinants:
- addressing differences in access and healthy life expectancy - the roles of housing, employment and local conditions
- directing preventative support towards underserved groups and addressing barriers to access
Diagnostics, genomics, data & personalised prevention
The potential for new approaches to identifying and managing health risks will be assessed, alongside questions about clinical usefulness, the ability of services to respond and the evidence needed for wider adoption.
Areas for discussion include:
- diagnostics & screening: community testing and earlier identification of disease - capacity, referral pathways and integration with primary and neighbourhood care
- genomics & personalised prevention:
- development of the NHS Genomics Population Health Service - inherited and polygenic risk assessment
- evidence, clinical interpretation and equitable access
- acting on identified risks: clinical follow-up and workforce requirements - avoiding unnecessary referrals or false reassurance - implications for patients and specialist services
- AI & population health: risk stratification and predictive analytics - data quality, clinical oversight and targeting interventions according to need
- patient information & digital health: the proposed Single Patient Record, NHS App and remote monitoring - information sharing, confidentiality, patient control and digital exclusion
- research & adoption: the contribution of Our Future Health and other research programmes - demonstrating clinical and economic value - procurement and routes to wider NHS use
Commissioning, funding, workforce & evidence of value
Further sessions will consider the financial and organisational arrangements needed for prevention, including the choices facing commissioners and providers while acute demand remains high, and the benefits of investment may take years to emerge.
Areas for discussion include:
- commissioning & provider arrangements:
- strategic and population-based commissioning - neighbourhood contracts and integrated health organisation models
- implications for GPs, NHS trusts and other providers
- funding & investment: directing resources towards prevention alongside existing service commitments - financial pressures, transition costs and incentives for earlier intervention
- local partnerships: joint commissioning and pooled budgets - public health funding and the Better Care Fund - arrangements for voluntary and community sector participation
- workforce & infrastructure: capacity and skills across primary, community and public health services - multidisciplinary working - neighbourhood facilities and technology requirements
- measuring outcomes & value:
- evaluating service models and preventative interventions - patient experience, health inequalities and demand for services
- demonstrating benefits across health, care and the wider economy
- longer-term decisions: evidence for investment and wider adoption - the relationship between longer-term returns and shorter spending cycles - priorities ahead of the 2027 Spending Review
All delegates will be able to contribute to the output of the conference, which will be shared with parliamentary, ministerial, departmental and regulatory offices, and more widely. This includes the full proceedings and additional articles submitted by delegates. As well as key stakeholders, those already due to attend include officials from the Care Quality Commission; Department of Health and Social Care; HM Prison and Probation Service; Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; National Audit Office; UK Health Security Agency.
