The neighbourhood health centres guidance and specification, published on 15 April 2026, sets out both the strategic framework and the planning requirements for how providers, integrated care boards, and NHS England regions should organise their estates to support neighbourhood health.

As set out in the Neighbourhood Health design specifications, it is expected that new build neighbourhood health centres will meet the Net Zero Building Standard and provide exemplars for low carbon construction and operation. Centres are also required to be healthy buildings, providing well-tempered and well-designed environments.

Beyond this, we expect neighbourhood health teams and services will be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While there will be a consistent focus on personalised coordinated care, the centres will look different in different places, and this could include biophilic design.

General practices operate as independent businesses, providing National Health Services, and practices are eligible for reimbursement of certain costs. Terms depend on the ownership or occupation arrangements for the property, as set out in the Premises Costs Directions (PCDs) 2024.

The PCDs are directions to NHS England from my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in relation to reimbursements of certain costs incurred by General Medical Services contractors, relating to their practice premises, principally notional rent or rent reimbursement, and some day-to-day running costs. This applies to properties owned by local authorities.

Integrated care boards can already commission community-based eye care services. Improvements in IT connectivity and the development of single points of access between primary care optometry and secondary care will also support more care being delivered in the community, including under shared care arrangements.

Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend and there are no centrally held national waiting lists for NHS primary dental care. Some dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements.

NHS dentists are required to keep their the NHS.UK website profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they should contact NHS 111.

The Government is committed to ensuring people can access urgent dental care when they need it. Over the past year, integrated care boards have been commissioning additional urgent dental appointments and there is now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the country. 1.8 million additional courses of NHS dental treatment have been delivered in the seven months between April 2024 to October 2025 compared to the corresponding months prior to the general election.

We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, on 16 December we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising treatment for those with urgent or more complex care needs. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms/outcome/government-response-to-consultation-on-nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms

The Department supports effective patient care handovers between general practitioners (GPs), dentists, and eye clinics through existing frameworks. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) 2018 guideline Emergency and acute medical care in over 16s: service delivery and organisation, code NG94, recommends structured handovers using tools like SBAR, or Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation, for clear communication during care transitions that are applicable to these settings. The NICE’s 2015 guideline Medicines optimisation: the safe and effective use of medicines to enable the best possible outcomes, code NG5, advises sharing accurate medicine information when patients move between different providers.

For dentists, the NICE’s 2015 guideline Suspected cancer: recognition and referral, code NG12, supports GP referrals for suspected oral cancer requiring clear communication. NHS England’s dental policies promote collaboration between GPs and dentists that are reinforced by the General Dental Council’s standards on documentation.

For eye clinics, NHS England’s Eye Care Digital Playbook encourages secure communication for handovers between GPs, optometrists, and eye services. Referral guidance ensures GPs provide comprehensive patient details.

Within the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), five dentists have been recruited under the dental recruitment incentive scheme. In the East of England in total, 11 dentists have been recruited under the dental recruitment incentive scheme. ICBs continue to work with practices in their area to support recruitment to these posts.

This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most, for three years.

The Government is committed to tackling the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care. We are working to ensure patients can start to access 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments as soon as possible, targeting areas that need them most including the East of England.

We will set out further information on this commitment, including how this will be measured, in due course.

‘Dental desert’ is a term used colloquially to describe areas struggling with access to National Health Service dentistry. There are a range of metrics which can be used to assess dental access.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.

ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. Dental practices in specific areas, determined locally, were invited by their ICBs to express interest in participating in the scheme and notified of the outcome of their application via their ICB. Further information on the process can be found in guidance issued by NHS England, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/dental-recruitment-incentive-scheme-2024-25/

As of 16 December 2024, 706 Expressions of Interest have been received of which 320 have been approved for participation in the Dental Recruitment Incentive Scheme. 212 posts have been advertised, with 19 dentists commenced in post.

As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment.

We recognise that bringing in the staff needed will take time. The decision for the timetable of recruiting the 8,500 additional mental health workers is still ongoing. We are working with NHS England on options to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions on a wide range of matters with Cabinet colleagues, including my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.

The Government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure that patients are seen on time and have the best possible experience during their care. As of October 2024, the waiting list for ophthalmology services stands at just over 593,000. 66.1% of these involved treatment within 18 weeks.

This is not good enough, and we have committed to getting back to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should be seen within 18 weeks of referral, by the end of this Parliament, across all specialities. Funding announced in the Autumn Budget will support delivery of an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week, as a first step towards achieving this.

NHS England is also testing how improved IT connectivity between primary care optometry and secondary eye care services could improve the referral process and allow for the virtual triage of patients. This also includes looking at whether patients can be managed in the community, freeing up hospital eye clinic capacity for patients that need face to face specialist input.

The information is not held in the format requested.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessments and diagnoses, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

NHS England is aware of the variation between services that provide autism assessments in terms of the proportion of assessments which result in a diagnosis of autism. On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.

There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.

The Department is committed to working closely with NHS England to ensure that people with anorexia and other eating disorders get the care and treatment they need, when they need it.

We will focus on improving the performance of the existing waiting time standards for children and young people’s eating disorder services. This will be supported by recruiting 8,500 additional mental health staff across children and adult mental health services.

From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. In the 24 months to March 2024, 277,447 adults saw a National Health Service dentist in the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, equal to 36% of the adult population in the ICB. In the 12 months to March 2024, 132,424 children saw an NHS dentist in the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, equal to 55% of the child population in the ICB.

Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.

Waiting lists for those referred for support are too high, and especially so for young people. People with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system and ensure that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.

The Government will recruit 8,500 additional staff across children and adult mental health services, introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school, and roll out the Young Futures hubs to further support young people’s mental health.