How Community Appointment Days are helping shape neighbourhood health

Community Appointment Days (CADs), developed in Sussex by Here and partners, have been featured in a new report from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy exploring how neighbourhood health can support prevention, recovery and independence. The report, Five Principles for Neighbourhood Health, brings together examples from around the country showing how health and care services are working differently to help people access support closer to home. Alongside examples from Hull, Surrey Downs, Leeds, East Sussex and Bradford, the report highlights Community Appointment Days as a practical example of how community musculoskeletal (MSK) services can be redesigned around people’s needs.

What is neighbourhood health?

Neighbourhood health is becoming an increasingly important part of NHS reform. It aims to bring together healthcare, community services and local organisations to help people stay well, manage long-term conditions and access support earlier. Rather than asking people to navigate multiple appointments and services, neighbourhood health focuses on connecting care around the individual and what matters most to them.

Community Appointment Days: bringing support together

Community Appointment Days were designed in Sussex to bring physiotherapy, wider clinical expertise, voluntary and community organisations and leisure services together in one place. Every conversation starts with a simple question:

“What matters to you?”

This helps people access the support that is right for them, whether that is physiotherapy, exercise, self-management resources, social support or ongoing clinical care. The report describes Community Appointment Days as an example of how community MSK services can support neighbourhood health by connecting people with local support and helping them manage their health closer to home. Published evaluations from Sussex found that:

• 52% of people attending Community Appointment Days were able to self-manage after attending.
• More than half of attendees were discharged with the option of patient-initiated follow-up.
• The approach supports people to access the right advice, activity or service more quickly.

Developed in Sussex, informing wider conversations

Developed in partnership with Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT), Community Appointment Days were clinically led by Laura Finucane, Expert Clinical Advisor and Consultant Physiotherapist at Here, and co-designed with MSK teams, partners and Health Builders – people with lived experience – to create a model centred on what matters most to people. The model has attracted interest from organisations across the UK and continues to inform wider conversations about prevention, rehabilitation and personalised care.

Supporting healthier communities

At Here, we believe better health starts with understanding what matters to people and connecting them with the support they need to live well. As neighbourhood health develops across the NHS, Community Appointment Days offer one example of how healthcare professionals, community organisations and local assets can work together to support independence, build confidence and help people manage their health in ways that work for them.