NHS-funded project needs Sheffielders to outline their neighbourhoods in effort to improve local healthcare

People who live and work in Sheffield have the chance to share their perspectives on their neighbourhoods in an ambitious project to improve local healthcare resourcing.

NHS South Yorkshire ICB has put £15,000 into the project run by Citizen Network, and will be able to more effectively deliver local care and resources using its results.

Dr Simon Duffy, president of Citizen Network said: “No one living here understands just how weird England is. It’s weird to run cities operating at this scale. It’s not Sheffield City Council, it’s England.

“You won’t find another part of the world where local authority is so weak, and it is weak because we are doing everything at the wrong scale.”

The “ideal neighbourhood” contains around 4,000 people, which would split Sheffield’s population of 600,000 into 150 smaller areas - which is how people do see Sheffield, based on the results so far.

Tom French, who runs Sheffield Data for Good and Data for Action and is working on the project, said: “There is not a definitive list of these places in Sheffield, and it is important we start talking about them consistently.

“It all comes back to health. Delivering care goes through primary care teams or committee health teams, whose boundaries are pre-defined by local government.

“But is there a better way to understand those places? If someone goes to their GP to talk about a physical issue but also has social needs like loneliness, how can GPs act as an anchor to refer them to groups and clubs in what they perceive as their neighbourhood?”

So far, with over 300 responses to the online survey, some areas in the city are more heavily represented than others.

Tom said: “If there is a gap, that doesn't mean that there isn't a neighbourhood there, it just means no one has filled it in. For example, the north of the city is less represented, so we can get on with dedicated work there.

“We do want it to be as representative as possible, but we are not worried because this is just the starting point.”

The project will be promoted through the voluntary sector, and people will be able to attend face-to-face events to discuss and draw on maps their perceptions of the local area, as well online.

Dr Duffy added: “Neighbourhoods need to be validated by the citizens themselves.

“There will be issues and areas that multiple neighbourhoods care about, and by finding out what those are, they can be better taken care of. 

“You cannot make things better by saying ‘you are all responsible for everything’, because there's a scale issue. Because then, when too many people look at issues and say ‘that’s not my problem’, what do you think will happen? Nothing good.”

Sheffield City Council has also explored the boundaries in the city in recent years, generating an unofficial list of 100 potential neighbourhoods - which it is open to developing.

Dr Duffy said: “We have had nothing but support from the council. It's an inexpensive project, and we've been encouraged to make it happen.

“That is an indication that some of the leaders are willing to listen to communities and cities in a way that is different to a few years ago.”

The dates and locations for in person events will be shared through Tom and Citizen Network’s X accounts.

People can submit their views online through Maptionnaire, freely drawing their neighbourhood boundaries onto a map.