NHS launches online platform to help shape the UK Government’s 10-year health plan
Members of the public, as well as NHS staff and experts, have been invited to share their experiences, views and ideas to help shape the government’s 10 Year Health Plan via the Change NHS online platform, which will be live until the start of next year, and available via the NHS App.
The public engagement exercise will help shape the government’s 10 Year Health Plan which will be published in spring 2025 and will be underlined by 3 big shifts in healthcare including hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.
As part of the first shift ‘from hospital to community’, the government wants to deliver plans for new neighbourhood health centres, which will be closer to homes and communities. Patients will be able to see family doctors, district nurses, care workers, physiotherapists, health visitors or mental health specialists, all under the same roof.
In transforming the NHS from analogue to digital, the government will create a more modern NHS by bringing together a single patient record, summarising patient health information, test results, and letters in one place, through the NHS App. It will put patients in control of their own medical history, meaning they do not have to repeat it at every appointment, and that staff have the full picture of patients’ health.
New laws are set to be introduced to make NHS patient health records available across all NHS trusts, GP surgeries and ambulance services in England, speeding up patient care, reducing repeat medical tests and minimising medication errors.
Systems will be able to share data more easily, saving NHS staff an estimated 140,000 hours of NHS staff’s time every year, because staff will have quicker access to patient data, saving time that can then be spent face-to-face with patients who need it most and potentially saving lives.
By moving from sickness to prevention, government wants to shorten the amount of time people spend in ill health and prevent illnesses before they happen. As an example, the 10 Year Health Plan will explore the opportunities smart watches and other wearable tech may offer patients with diabetes or high blood pressure, so they can monitor their own health from the comfort of their own home.
The launch of the new online platform will take place at a health centre in east London, where the Secretary of State will meet with the Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Service before the first engagement event involving NHS staff from across the healthcare system as a start to the national conversation.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “My mum worked for the NHS, my sister worked for the NHS and my wife still works for the NHS – so I know first-hand how difficult it has been for staff and for patients battling against a broken system for over a decade. But it’s time to roll up our sleeves and fix it.
“We have a clear plan to fix the health service, but it’s only right that we hear from the people who rely on the NHS every day to have their say and shape our plan as we deliver it. Together we can build a healthcare system that puts patients first and delivers the care that everyone deserves.
“We have a huge opportunity to put the NHS back on its feet. So, let’s be the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and made it fit for the future.”
The NHS says investment alone won’t be enough to tackle the problems it faces, which is why it must go hand in hand with fundamental reform.
The three big shifts will be the key principles for reform and will revolutionise the way people manage their health and access care. The reforms will also shift the NHS away from late diagnosis and treatment to a model where more services are delivered in local communities and illnesses are prevented in the first place.
Wes Streeting, Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, the NHS saved my life, as it has for so many people across our country. We all owe the NHS a debt of gratitude for a moment in our lives when it was there for us, when we needed it. Now we have a chance to repay that debt.
“Today the NHS is going through the worst crisis in its history. But while the NHS is broken, it’s not beaten. Together, we can fix it.
“Whether you use the NHS or work in it, you see first-hand what’s great, but also what isn’t working. We need your ideas to help turn the NHS around.
“In order to save the things we love about the NHS, we need to change it. Our 10 Year Health Plan will transform the NHS to make it fit for the future, and it will have patients’ and staff’s fingerprints all over it.
“I urge everyone to go to change.nhs.uk today and help us build a health service fit for the future.”
The NHS says it is vital the government hears from patients, experts and its workforce to make sure we get this right and preserve the things people value about the health service.
Bold ambitions for the NHS can only be achieved by listening to the expertise and knowledge of its 1.54 million strong workforce, according to the NHS. The members of staff’s understanding of what’s holding them back from performing at their best will help us bring down waiting times and provide the world class care the public deserve.
The government says it has already taken immediate action to address challenges in the health service and deliver an NHS fit for the future. Whether that’s agreeing a deal with resident doctors within weeks, securing a funding increase for GP practices to manage rising pressures or hiring an extra 1,000 GPs into the NHS by the end of this year, there are both short and long-term reforms working hand in hand.
In recent news, a planned target of December this year for the delivery of a new digital inclusion programme has been welcomed by formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health as ‘a vital first step’ to better care.
