Meet Sarah Khan – Why neighbourhood health starts with relationships

We spoke to Care City Board member Sarah Khan about leadership, neighbourhood health and why building stronger relationships is key to improving health and care.

Sarah Khan has spent more than two decades bringing people together to improve health and care. From leading national mental health policy at NHS England to helping shape services across London and beyond, her career has been built around one central belief: lasting change happens when people work together around what matters most.

Now, as Director of Strategic Development at NELFT and the newest member of the Care City Board, Sarah is bringing that experience to our next chapter.

Fresh from joining us at Stronger Things 2026, where Care City hosted a session on Making Neighbourhood Health, Neighbourhood Led, we sat down with Sarah to talk about leadership, neighbourhoods, community power and why relationships matter more than ever.

Looking back on your career, what are some of the defining moments?

One of Sarah’s proudest achievements was leading the development of the first access and waiting time standard for people experiencing psychosis.

“It was an amazing opportunity to make a difference for people who have not always been a priority for the NHS.  We were trying to underline that there is the same urgency in getting swift access to effective care for someone experiencing first episode psychosis as for any urgent physical health condition, as the impact on life outcomes is so significant.” 

The work brought together clinical experts, policymakers, financial analysts and people with lived experience to design a standard that focused not just on being seen quickly, but on receiving the right holistic package of care at the right time.

“It was about making visible what people should have a right to expect.”

What leadership lessons have stayed with you?

For Sarah, leadership starts with people.

” Compassionate leadership and kindness really matter.”

She is also passionate about creating space for people to bring their whole selves to leadership roles.

“As a parent, it’s important to be honest about balancing competing responsibilities. It’s challenging, but it is possible. Being open about that helps other people feel able to do the same.”

And when it comes to creating change?

“You’ll always do it better if you do it collaboratively.”

What attracted you to joining the Care City Board?

Although NELFT has long had a place on the Care City Board, Sarah was keen to take up the opportunity herself.

What stood out most was Care City’s ability to bring together perspectives that don’t often meet in the same room.

“It’s really interesting to be on a board that brings together education, local government, health, social care and the voluntary sector around shared challenges.”

Attending Stronger Things shortly after joining reinforced that feeling.

“I was one of only a handful of NHS people in the room. It made me realise there’s this whole other world of thinking about relationships, neighbourhoods and communities that health services aren’t always connected into.”

What were your reflections from Stronger Things?

Sarah left the event energised. “I came away quite fired up, actually.”

She was struck by how many people across local government and communities were talking about relationships, neighbourhoods and community power, often in ways that felt very familiar to work already underway within mental health and community services.

“We’re all talking about integrated neighbourhoods, but we’re not always doing this in a very integrated way.”

One of the strongest themes for Sarah was the importance of understanding people beyond the problem they present with today.

Reflecting on Care City’s neighbourhood health workshop, she said:

“People’s story isn’t how they present today. The exercise that Care City ran where they introduced a person with a health crisis in the present day and then traced their health journey backwards through time, really connected with a relational care model. You’re not going to help somebody achieve the outcome they want unless you understand what’s important to them and what’s going on in their life.”

Why does neighbourhood health matter?

For Sarah, neighbourhoods offer an opportunity to move beyond designing services for people and instead work alongside them.

She believes health and care systems already have a wealth of data about inequalities and unmet need.

“The data is there. And it’s really important. But we need to stop just talking about it and instead work together to do something about it.”

The challenge is creating the relationships, trust and local connections that help turn that knowledge into meaningful change.

That’s one of the reasons she is excited by Care City’s community connection work with partners in Barking & Dagenham.

“Most people in the NHS are really committed to the vision of neighbourhood health. They just don’t always know how to go about building the community relationships that are so essential to making it happen.”

She sees a particular role for organisations like Care City in helping systems move from aspiration to action by combining community insight, evidence-based approaches and practical experimentation.

Looking ahead

Sarah is particularly excited about helping make neighbourhood health more tangible.

“It feels quite intangible at the moment. What does it look like when it works? What does it take to make it work? How do we communicate that?”

Those questions sit at the heart of Care City’s neighbourhood health work and the wider conversation we’re starting with partners across the country.

As for what she hopes to bring to the Board?

“I’ve got lots to learn, but I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m looking forward to finding out more about what Care City does and working out what I can most helpfully bring.”

And finally, away from work?

Sarah is a mum,  a distance runner, an enthusiastic open water swimmer, and much to the delight of Care City’s dog lovers, proud owner of Gracie the cockapoo, who she describes as “much adored and very much needing to be adored.” We’re sure she deserves it!