Neighbourhood health insight as care minister visits locality hub
Minister for Care Stephen Kinnock MP visited Birmingham for a first-hand look at how close collaborative work between BCHC and acute sector partners is helping to deliver the government's neighbourhood health vision.
During the visit, the minister officially opened a new community heart failure service at Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre, home to the East Birmingham Locality Hub.
Patients diagnosed with heart failure in Birmingham and Solihull have been given improved access to essential care through the service, which is provided by Heartlands Hospital, part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. It will enable patients with heart failure to be monitored and receive routine appointments closer to home with access to specialist heart failure nurses working closely with community nurses and primary care colleagues.
Ed Landon, Director of Operations, Heartlands Hospital, said: “This new clinic will help us to wrap care around our patients, giving them essential community care, helping improve their quality of care and overall long-term health outcomes.
“This is an exciting extension to the Respiratory Same Day Emergency Care service launched at the Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre a year ago.”
Asgher Khan, aged 55 years-old, from Yardley has intravenous (IV) furosemide daily, which relieves fluid congestion and breathing difficulties in patients with heart failure. He received this treatment at Heartlands Hospital but is now able to go to Washwood Heath. He said: “The service is priceless. I get more of a personal relationship with the team; it's like a VIP service.
“I used to feel quite stressed going into hospital, but at Washwood Heath, once you're done, you can go home. The team make sure you're comfortable, do all the necessary checks, like your blood pressure and weight, and are there to discuss any problems and give reassurance and guidance. It's real one-to-one care. I'm so grateful.”
Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre is one of six neighbourhood hubs to open across Birmingham and Solihull as part of the BCHC-led Community Care Collaborative programme. These hubs are part of the government's strategy to provide better integrated localised health and social care service with the aim of shifting care from hospitals into communities, focusing on prevention and early diagnosis, and using digital technology to better integrate health, social care and voluntary sector support around individuals and families.
Mr Kinnock met NHS colleagues across the hub, including members of the integrated neighbourhood team, one of 11 now 'live' across the city, with five more due to launch by end of March 2026 and a target of 35 by the end of 2027.
Staff from BCHC and Heartlands Hospital offered an insight into the innovative collaborative use of real-time data in the care co-ordination centre; and colleagues from UHB in the respiratory same-day emergency care service talked to the minister about their first year of operation, in which they have seen over 1,500 patients.
Mr Kinnock said: “I was delighted to visit Washwood Health and Wellbeing Centre - one of our pioneering neighbourhood health services - and to open the new heart failure clinic.
“Through our 10 Year Health Plan we are shifting care from hospital to community, bringing it closer to where people live. Washwood is leading the way, providing health and care services for the people of Saltley and Birmingham right on their doorstep.
“The new clinic offers patients rapid access to diagnostic appointments, care and support in one place. This will ease pressure on hospitals, while delivering better, more convenient care for patients.”
BCHC chief executive Richard Kirby said: “The addition of the new heart failure clinic to the existing services provided at this neighbourhood hub in East Birmingham marks a great advance in how we are trying to better deliver healthcare more locally for patients.
"This community-based specialist care is enabling earlier interventions and helping residents manage their health closer to home which is where we know they would prefer to be.”
David Melbourne, Chief Executive of NHS Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull, said: “The East Birmingham Locality Hub is one of 43 initiatives across Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull that have been selected to take part in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, which is a strong endorsement of the partnership approach we are taking to tackle stark and unjust health inequalities by designing services around communities rather than organisations.”
Pictured above - Celebrating the opening of the new heart failure service (left to right):
front row: Councillor Mariam Khan, Ed Landon, Hospital Operations Director for Heartlands Hospital, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, Stephen Kinnock MP, Stuart Lackenby, Executive Director Adult Social Care and Health Birmingham City Council, Dr Subeena Suleman, Chair of BSol ICS's GP Partnership Board and BSol ICB's Primary Care Medical Services Partner Member and Joanne Heartland, Associate Director of Nursing (Clinical Delivery Group 1A), Heartlands Hospital.
back row: Richard Kirby, Chief Executive, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and David Melbourne, Chief Executive, NHS Birmingham and Solihull and NHS Black Country.