Brent Council's Health and Wellbeing Board has approved a new model for NHS neighbourhood health services, consolidating the borough's five existing areas into four. The decision, made at a meeting on Thursday, September 17, 2026, aims to streamline services and improve care delivery closer to residents.
The new four-neighbourhood structure will see Kilburn and Willesden merged into a single area. The other three neighbourhoods – Harlesden, Wembley, and Kingsbury and Kenton – will remain as they are.
This change is a requirement of the national NHS Neighbourhood Health Framework and is intended to provide a foundation for improved services and support for residents. The consolidation is anticipated to support greater alignment of neighbourhood leadership, integrated teams, population health planning, community engagement, and enabling workstreams, including workforce, estates, digital, and data. The model aims to support more coordinated, preventative, and person-centred support by bringing together health, care, council, primary care, voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations and communities. Specifically, it is expected to shift care towards prevention, early intervention and proactive neighbourhood-based support, enabling residents to remain healthier and more independent for longer.
It will also support the continued development of Child Health Hubs, integration with Family Wellbeing Centres and coordinated support for children, young people, and families,
and strengthen community capacity, improving access to local services, increasing resident participation, and addressing the wider social determinants of health through integrated, place-based partnership working.
Impact on Kilburn and Willesden
The merging of Kilburn and Willesden is expected to reduce organisational, governance and provider interfaces for boroughwide, community, and specialist services.
It is also anticipated to strengthen leadership resilience and workforce flexibility, particularly for borough-wide and specialist services and commissioning.
The Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) Executive will provide support to the newly merged Kilburn and Willesden area to ensure effective collaborative leadership and representation arrangements.
Providers like CLCH and CNWL have indicated that fewer, larger neighbourhoods would be beneficial for leadership, workforce, and operational capacity. However, it is acknowledged that Existing Kilburn and Willesden leadership arrangements would need to be redesigned.
Implementation Timeline
The decision on the new four-neighbourhood structure was made at the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on September 17, 2026. Following this approval, detailed implementation arrangements will be developed with partners.
This will include neighbourhood governance and leadership, alignment of operational teams, development of neighbourhood action plans, stakeholder communications, and ongoing monitoring of the new arrangements.
Updates on the implementation are expected to be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board in November 2026. Residents will have opportunities to provide feedback throughout this process, with specific communication and engagement planned for the merged Kilburn and Willesden area to ensure local needs remain visible.
Addressing Potential Challenges
Potential challenges and risks associated with the consolidation include larger footprints containing distinct communities and different patterns of need, longer travel and coordination routes, and the potential for community identity and resident voice to become diluted. These risks are being mitigated by analyzing population health information at ward, locality, and community level, maintaining locality-level delivery arrangements where appropriate, and ensuring accessible and inclusive communication and engagement. The ICP will also support the redesign of leadership arrangements in the merged Kilburn and Willesden area to ensure effective representation.
Equitable Access and Funding
The four-neighbourhood model is intended to strengthen the ability of partners to plan and deliver coordinated, preventative support. Brent will continue to apply a population health approach to inform resource allocation and service design, ensuring equitable access, particularly for communities experiencing health inequalities. There are no direct financial implications arising from the decision to adopt four neighbourhood footprints; initial implementation will be managed through existing partnership resources. The report also mentions the anticipated additional Integrated Care Board (ICB) investment into Brent neighbourhood health as part of the 'left shift' towards prevention.
Further Information
The decision was made at the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on September 17, 2026. Further details can be found in the Public reports pack for the meeting.
