By Richard Butler and Robert Williams
The NHS’s 2025/26 Neighbourhood Health Guidelines confirm what many of us have long aspired to: Population Health Management (PHM) is now firmly at the top of the health agenda. PHM is the first of six core components for building an effective neighbourhood health service listed in the guidelines.
We see this as a clear signal that the NHS is serious about the shift from reactive to proactive healthcare.
Taking a population health approach is all about zooming out and looking at the bigger picture. It’s about bringing together health data to spot patterns and identify specific ‘at risk’ groups, say those at risk of developing a Long-Term Condition. Then, services or specific interventions can be designed to address individual patient needs and reduce their risk factors. And the scope of those interventions can be more than just healthcare. For many patients, housing, work, and education play a huge role too. That’s why this approach isn’t only about treating illness—it’s also about prevention and taking an integrated system-wide perspective. It’s the shift towards being more reflective and proactive, finding underserved needs, and making sure resources go where they’ll have most impact. This is an opportunity to be curious, inclusive and collaborative, making population health everyone’s business.
Yet, as Lord Darzi points out, integrated care boards (ICBs) have taken different approaches to PHM. Some worked with system partners to target upstream social determinants, beyond direct NHS control. Others focused on tailoring healthcare services to their population’s needs. Others stuck mainly to their traditional role of managing provider performance. Now, with the scale of change to NHS England and ICBs on the horizon, there is growing uncertainty about where accountability for driving PHM will sit, and how strategy will be led. In this evolving landscape, PHM approaches are more urgent than ever, offering a practical way to increase productivity, target need, and make best use of limited resources in financially challenging times.
Making PHM work
The NHS’s 2025/26 planning guidance and Neighbourhood Health Guidelines rightly emphasise data, including the importance of longitudinal, linked datasets as a driver for PHM. We’re excited to get our hands on improving datasets and to see their impact on systems’ decision making in this area. However, data alone won’t deliver change. Indeed, our experience tells us:
- “Don’t wait for perfect data.”
Great data starts with good questions, as simple as: ‘Why have obesity rates risen?’, or ‘Why are these patients frequently admitted to hospital or attending A&E?” or ‘Why is our diabetes prevalence higher than our neighbours?’ And you don’t need a perfect dataset before acting. The best PHM interventions can emerge from curiosity and iteration, and by learning from action. It’s also vital to think beyond healthcare boundaries.
- A culture of questioning drives better strategy.
PHM isn’t just a data function; it’s a way of thinking — a mindset that challenges assumptions, seeks deeper understanding, and connects data-driven insights with real-world action. It requires strong and committed leaders able to innovate and inspire, and with the determination to deliver on-the-ground change. Organisations that encourage questioning and hypothesis-driven decision-making are more likely to embed PHM more successfully.
- Strong PHM strategies go beyond isolated initiatives.
They require a system-wide approach that set clear priorities for change, such as reducing A&E attendances, improving bed productivity, and/or tackling specific local health inequalities. Effective strategies design targeted interventions, measure both short and long-term outcomes, and continuously iterate based on evidence and impact. Great PHM approaches will recognise the strengths of individual system partners, and foster collaboration and consensus while working within the constraints of budget and resources.
A strategy grounded in PHM ensures that data-driven insights translate into practical, sustainable improvements across the system. Alignment matters more than algorithms. The biggest barriers to PHM aren’t technical—they’re organisational. Genuine transformation requires system-wide long-term commitment.
Moving forward
PHM is finally at the centre of NHS strategy. The challenge, and the opportunity, despite these times of uncertainty, is to embed it as a way of working — beyond just the data and a set of analytical tools — so that real change can be delivered. We don’t need to wait for perfect data. We need to ask questions, act on what we know, and align our efforts across the system.
The good news? The pieces are in place. Now, it’s about making them work together.
What stage of population health management is your organisation in? Email us if you’d like an informal chat about adopting or scaling a PHM approach.
About the authors
Richard Butler is a Digital and Analytics Consultant. He has a background in industry and NHS data analysis and economic evaluation, with experience spanning investment banking, the social investment sector, and healthcare analytics.
Robert Williams is a Senior Consultant with broad experience in programme management, engagement and content production drawn from his background in education publishing, the social impact sector, and the NHS.
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