Community development through health gain and service change - do it now!

This article explores the principles and practice of community development (CD) in health from a primary care perspective. CD is defined and examples are given. There are many misconceptions about the term and so we explain what CD is not: for instance, it is not social prescribing, nor is it conventional public health interventions. The benefits for practices, general practitioners and clinical commissioning groups are outlined, and the current evidence on cost-benefit is given. In essence, the benefits are health gain and effective community-driven service change. Risks, side effects and complications are described. Finally, the Charter for Community Development in Health is a call to action for clinical commissioning groups and policy-makers. We have an approach that changes people's lives for the better - let's harness it!