The NHS said that once the patient is known to the team, they can then reach out to them.
Ms Harndon said Carol was “flagged on our system as needing extra support. When I go in to assess a patient, I look at everything. How are they coping?
“The first time I met them, Tony said to me, ‘We have lost all our confidence when we go out. We just want to be able to go for lunch again without having to worry.’
“I took my assessment back to the multi-disciplinary team, which includes services from the GP surgery, community and social care, and we quickly identified that Carol’s medication needed to be reviewed, which could help reduce her risk of falling.
Neighbourhood Health teams are backed by £10m of government funding and draw together a range of professions, including community nurses, hospital doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, paramedics, social prescribers, local government organisations and the voluntary sector.
The pioneer sites will initially focus on supporting people with long-term conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, angina, high blood pressure, MS, or epilepsy – in areas with the highest deprivation.