Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan

The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England has been launched, setting out a bold, ambitious and necessary new course for the NHS.

The plan fundamentally reinvents our approach to healthcare so that we can guarantee the NHS will be there for all who need it for generations to come.

It has been shaped by the experiences and expectations of members of the public, patients, our partners and the health and care workforce across the country, reflecting the changes that people wanted to see.

Through the ‘three shifts’ – from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention – we will personalise care, give more power to patients, and ensure that the best of the NHS is available to all:

• Hospital to community (more care available on people’s doorstep and from the comfort of your own home; easier access to see a GP and Neighbourhood Health Centres available in every community).
• Analogue to digital (new technology to liberate staff from time-wasting admin; make booking appointments and managing your care as easy as online banking or shopping).
• Sickness to prevention (reach patients earlier, to catch illness before it spreads and prevent it in the first place, by making the healthy choice the easy choice).

The 10 Year Plan promises to deliver thousands more GPs and a transformed NHS app, better dental access with new dentists serving NHS patients first, faster emergency care, with pre-booking through the NHS APP or 111, and care closer to home through a new Neighbourhood Health Service.

You can read the plan on the Government’s website.

We Need To Talk

In October 2024 we launched a four-week public conversation, a major piece of work that captured people’s views on NHS priorities in our area – and what the NHS might need to do differently in the future.

The full We Need to Talk feedback report is available here.

We recognised the NHS is not always providing the care people would expect. And in our case for change, we argued that without potentially radical action, current issues would worsen, and people’s health and care would continue to be impacted.

Almost 4,800 people took part in the public engagement with 97 per cent of people supporting a view that change is needed in the NHS, and 70 per cent saying some NHS services should be delivered differently or stopped altogether.

The top priorities identified in our research were emergency care, primary care, and mental health care. Many people also believed the NHS should be doing more to help people maintain a healthy lifestyle – and prevent ill health.

Issues such as long waiting times, workforce challenges, and the need for better communication and integration between services were highlighted. There was also strong support for the use of digital technology in healthcare, although concerns about digital exclusion were noted.

These were all themes which have emerged strongly in the 10 Year Plan.

We also captured feedback on the ‘three big shifts’ that are now central pillars in the Government’s ambitions.

On Hospital to Community, people told us they wanted easy access to general health services in a coordinated way, as close to home as possible or digitally. People wanted to see better use of community assets and resources.

On Analogue to Digital, our research showed that people were times more likely to use digital methods for online banking than for health, but the vast majority would be willing to use digital methods. People wanted the NHS to use integrated digital systems and products to ensure better coordination, communications and efficiency.

On Sickness to Prevention, 16 per cent of people said – unprompted – they would like to see prevention being an area of focus for the NHS. People suggested how the NHS and wider health and care system should increase its health improvement and prevention activities – including those related to the wider determinants of health.

We are already seeing greater use of AI to detect and speed up diagnosis, more availability of wearable technology and virtual wards so people don’t need to be in hospital, and the rollout of Community Diagnostic Centres closer to where our communities are, together with mobile screening units to pick up cancers early.

We have a shared care record, which makes it easier for vital clinical information to pass between GPs and hospital providers, greater awareness of mobile apps for health, Pharmacy First embedded across our area and an ongoing project to pick up cases of cardiovascular disease early.

The ICB and Minestry of Defence (MoD) are investing heavily in the flagship Catterick Integrated Care Centre, which will bring a host of NHS and MoD health services together under one roof.

And the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership is also continuing to invest in more joined-up care, such as the Centre of Excellence for Frailty – a project that’s even highlighted in the 10 Year Plan (page 40).