Enablers for change

Dedicated prevention funding that extends beyond short-term political cycles is essential for systemic change. This includes multi-year settlement periods for public health grants, ring-fenced prevention allocations within integrated care system budgets, and incentive structures that reward upstream intervention and shared outcomes across systems.

Investment in integrated data systems enables the predictive analytics needed for early intervention. This requires establishing interoperability standards, secure data-sharing frameworks between health and social care, and support for local authorities to develop analytical capabilities that can identify at-risk populations before crisis.

Prioritise prevention-relevant elements of the existing Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy, particularly focusing on the "Train" and "Transform" commitments. This includes expanding skills through the Care Workforce Pathway, investing in training for delegated healthcare activities, developing leadership capabilities, and embedding prevention competencies into mandatory training requirements. Aligning workforce development with prevention objectives would create the specialised roles and capabilities needed to shift from reactive to proactive models of care, while addressing the specific recruitment and retention challenges facing prevention-focused practitioners.

Inspection and performance frameworks require recalibration to adequately measure and incentivise prevention, with a stronger focus on wellbeing in line with the principles of the Care Act. This means developing quality indicators that recognise preventative outcomes, updating regulatory requirements to support innovative models, and establishing shared accountability mechanisms across health and care systems.

Coordinated approaches across government departments are crucial to influence the wider determinants of health and wellbeing. This includes aligning policies for housing, transport, employment and benefits that support independence, alongside devolved decision-making powers that enable local adaptation to community needs and assets.

Establishing clear prevention priorities with visible senior leadership commitment and cross-party political support. This creates the stability needed for sustained transformation and ensures prevention is embedded within corporate strategy and resource allocation decisions.

Creating formal partnership structures with shared decision-making, pooled resources, and joint outcomes frameworks. This alignment helps overcome traditional organisational silos and enables collective investment in prevention activities with shared risk and benefit.

Developing robust data-sharing agreements and analytical capabilities to enable accurate risk identification and impact measurement. Investment in both technical systems and skilled personnel is essential for evidence-based targeting of preventative interventions.

Implementing training programs in strengths-based approaches and community engagement skills while redefining roles to emphasise preventative practice. This cultural shift requires systematic upskilling across all levels of the organization.

Establishing structured approaches to meaningful resident involvement in service design and delivery. This ensures interventions are culturally appropriate, practically feasible, and aligned with community priorities and assets.

Developing innovative financing approaches such as invest-to-save mechanisms, outcomes-based commissioning, and multi-year prevention investment funds that create financial space for prevention to demonstrate returns.

Implementing balanced measurement systems that capture both qualitative experience measures and quantitative outcomes data to build a compelling evidence base for further investment and scaling.