Meet others who are working on the same stuff as you in these subject-specific deep-dive sessions.

5th January, 2022


The Relationship Project's David Robinson shares a framework for making relationships essential to public services, not a 'nice to have'.

8th December, 2021


More short-term fixes will only lead to further crisis. It's time for leadership to change the narrative.

18th November, 2021


Anna and Donna discuss why we need to move beyond debating funding to creating a people-centred system.

1st November, 2021


In the UK, access to healthcare may be egalitarian in principle, but outcomes are becoming less and less equal. Spurred on by the experience of Covid, a growing movement is building solutions - not within hospitals or GP surgeries,...

8th July, 2021


Rising demand, poor outcomes, public expectations and the need to bring humanity to healthcare are why giving more power to communities is the change the NHS needs argues Luca Tiratelli.

1st July, 2021


How can we make sure integrated care systems work for local people? Alex Fox argues we need to avoid just integrating bureaucracies, but take the opportunity to put patients' needs first.

23rd June, 2021


New Local board member Raj Jain on moving beyond an "ill-health service".

8th June, 2021


The NHS as we know it is increasingly unsustainable. These graphs show why - and how we need to change the way the NHS works if we want to protect its future.

20th May, 2021


Demand on the NHS is rising. To protect the future, the health service needs more than internal reform - it needs to reach outwards.

13th May, 2021


How community power can protect the future of the NHS.

13th May, 2021


Why do we keep sending people back to the conditions that have made them ill in the first place? This question is at the core of GP Dr Mark Spencer’s radical new approach to health care in Fleetwood, Lancashire,...

13th May, 2021


The pandemic has highlighted the gap between local communities and central government. Communities rose to the challenge and came together, central government scrambled to react and lost trust. Jane Dudman explores the year we saw how centralisation affects us...

29th April, 2021


When Children England asked young people to lead their own inquiry into how to create a welfare state that’s fair for children, they focused on local community-led solutions. Chloe Darlington looks at their ideas, from community health hubs to...

17th February, 2021


The pandemic has shown the powerful ways communities, civil society and the public sector can come together in response to local challenges. But this kind of cooperative local problem solving – what we call community power – has much...

16th February, 2021


As the vaccine rollout widens, how can local services reach eligible people who remain hesitant to make an appointment? In this how-to guide, the experts from the Behavioural Insights Team look at how to nudge more people to get...

10th February, 2021


The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on how the UK functions: how decisions are made and by whom; the interlocking - or isolated - roles of health care, local government and the private sector - and the 'heroic'...

1st February, 2021


Health care is so much more about what happens in hospitals, writes the former Chief Executive of the English NHS. Instead, it can thrive with the help of 'health creators' - ordinary people creating healthier communities. And it's time...

13th November, 2020


The crises facing care homes meant social care became part of the news during Covid-19. But how can we look beyond it to building a better system for future generations?

10th November, 2020


In this podcast, we discuss why the DWP report is ill-equipped to support people out of long-term unemployment. And we look at at the community approach that could replace it.

27th October, 2020


Over 2 million people are out of work due to health conditions and disabilities. But each year, only 4% move into employment. This Isn't Working, argues that support for this group should lie with local areas, and not the...

27th October, 2020



Women do the vast majority of unpaid care, and are often at the heart of community work. But can community empowerment help create a more egalitarian approach to paid and unpaid caring work – and to society in general?...

9th March, 2020


No one can doubt the sincerity of Dame Sally Davies’s parting shot as Chief Medical Officer. Her report on child obesity crackles with frustration and fear at the horrendous cost of the problem to individuals, families and the wider...

10th October, 2019


The challenges of working with partners, complex structures, imperfect systems etc are everywhere in local government. In this blog we talk about an example we’ve been working on in health and social care. Integrating health and social care –...

10th June, 2019


“I just found it really difficult to get out and meet people” Mary Evans says. “I was in my first month at university, in a new city surrounded by other freshers and everyone else looked like they were having...

29th March, 2019


Exploring how councils are working to tackle loneliness.

14th March, 2019



Financial constraints combined with escalating demand for services continues to be one of the biggest challenges that public bodies face. In order for the public sector to face the challenges of the future head on, efficient collaboration – and...

17th January, 2019


This article first appeared on the Local Government Chronicle website on 7th January 2019. It is generally accepted that doctors should avoid diagnosing their own illnesses and prescribing their own treatments. Evidence supporting this principle comes today with the...

8th January, 2019


It’s become a familiar scene. Minister makes “major” announcement of new funding for social care in the realm of many millions. Sector responds that what is needed is in the realm of many billions. Government cites arcane local government...

2nd October, 2018


11,000 young people leave care every year, including foster and residential placements, and start their transition to adulthood. For many, this is a difficult journey. Not only do young people have to grow up fast, many moving to live...

20th June, 2018


A quarter of millennials think it’s normal for older people to be unhappy or depressed, and two thirds don’t have a friendship with an age gap of 30 years or more. These findings, released by the Royal Society of...

18th June, 2018


Factors as varied as employment, transport, housing, and green space all affect people’s health. And over the last four years, councils have undertaken a variety of innovative work with local partners to improve public health outcomes. But challenges around...

5th June, 2018


On 23rd March 2018, NLGN, supported by The Ramblers, convened a roundtable on public health, held in Salford and attended by partners from across Greater Manchester. This blog launches the event report published today as part of NLGN’s Dialogue...

5th June, 2018


How should we regard the NHS as it celebrates its 70th year? A much-loved elderly aunt who offers nothing but care and support to an increasingly demanding family despite being rather down on her financial luck? Or something more...

29th March, 2018


The “NHS at breaking point” media furore has become a fixture on our winter calendar as regular as Christmas and New Year. Hospitals at full capacity, patients experiencing substandard care, the elderly and vulnerable hit the hardest. The basic...

3rd January, 2018


It’s hard to find a part of local government that doesn’t affect our health in some way. From support for children and parents, to the maintenance of local parks and leisure centres, and the development of new housing –...

4th December, 2017


Government must acknowledge health as an economic asset that boosts workforce productivity Over 85% of senior public health officers surveyed1 found that economic development departments are not as engaged as they could be £65m should be invested in Health...

28th November, 2017


In the UK, we’ve been talking for some time now about place-based ‘systems of care’. These are born out of collaboration with other NHS organisations and services to address challenges and improve the health of the populations we serve....

28th July, 2017


This blog is for Carers Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness of carers, the challenges they face, and the contribution they make to society. There is no doubt social care has risen dramatically up the agenda recently. It’s...

16th June, 2017


Theresa May is not the only potential casualty of this election. The social care issue has taken a pretty severe political beating as well. After May promised not to “duck the issue”, many in local government had hoped that...

9th June, 2017


The Prime Minister is right in elevating social care to one of this election’s defining issues – reflecting the very need for radical change that many of us have long been calling for. Some may have been disappointed the...

5th June, 2017


The issues crying out for solutions in this election remain woefully unaddressed. For years the UK has struggled with a rapidly ageing population, an unbalanced economy and a mess of a housing market. Politicians of every party have promised...

16th May, 2017


NLGN’s recent Place-based Health conference brought together many experts in local and national healthcare to discuss the need to move away from reactive health services, towards holistic, place-based systems – and the practical changes needed to make this happen....

6th April, 2017


If ever there was an area of healthcare where place-based care could have a major impact on local public health gains it is the identification and treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients. However the same reasons that...

9th February, 2017


England’s health and social care crisis is not only financial – it is a challenge to politics and society too. It represents a crisis of confidence about doing what needs to be done for citizens over the long term...

2nd February, 2017


This final report moves the debate into practical territory by focussing on actions rather than structures, and the wider resources of places rather than the organisational boundaries of institutions.

17th March, 2016


Local authorities, housing associations and the health sector are natural partners. There is significant overlap between the people they work with and the challenges they face. This report examines good practice demonstrating the benefits of collaboration, analyses some of...

24th March, 2015


It is now eighteen months on from the transfer of public health from the NHS to local authorities, and one year on from the publication of the NLGN report Healthy Dialogues: Embedding Health in Local Government. To mark this,...

27th January, 2015