UK government publishes 10-Year Health Plan for England to ‘reinvent’ NHS

The UK government has published its 10-Year Health Plan for England, which will see millions of patients being treated and cared for closer to home by new teams of health professionals.

Set out by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in July, the plan aims to ‘reinvent the NHS’ through three ‘radical shifts’:

1. Hospital to community
2. Analogue to digital
3. Sickness to prevention.

‘This is a time for radical change – major surgery, not sticking plasters,’ Sir Keir said in the 171-page document’s foreword. ‘The measures in this plan are radical and urgent. It won’t be easy, but the prize will be worth it. This is a plan that will take the NHS from the worst crisis in its history, and renew it so it serves generations to come.’

As part of the plan, neighbourhood health services will seek to provide more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services and reduce hospital visits.

The new health centres will house neighbourhood teams, including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative care staff and paramedics, and will eventually be open 12 hours a day, six days a week in local communities. It is hoped that this will enhance access to general practice and allow hospitals to concentrate on providing specialist care to those who need it.

The plan also outlines significant changes to the NHS App, with the aim of enhancing access, empowering patients and improving care planning. By 2028, the app will be ‘a full front door to the entire NHS’, with patients able to get instant advice for non-urgent care, choose their preferred provider, and book directly for tests and consultations. Patients will also be able to manage their medicines and long-term conditions, manage their children’s healthcare, as well as leave feedback on the care they have received.

A new genomics population health service will be created under the plan and will be accessible to all by the end of the decade, with universal newborn genomic testing and population-based polygenic risk scoring enabling early identification and intervention for individuals at high risk of developing common diseases.

Other initiatives in the plan include:

• Increasing uptake of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations among young people
• Rolling out lung cancer screening for those with a history of smoking
• Improving access to NHS dentistry
• Developing more dedicated mental health emergency departments
• Expanding mental health support teams in schools and colleges.

Increasing access to weight-loss medications and tackling alcohol consumption are other key elements of the initiative, alongside delivering on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which will mean that adolescents turning 16 this year, and those who are younger, can never legally be sold tobacco.

Promoting innovation is also a core component of the plan. This will be done through getting ‘the basic conditions right’, including accelerating clinical trials, future-proofing the UK’s regulatory landscape, streamlining procurement, and speeding up adoption and spread.

The plan pushes for the NHS to be a better partner with industry. ‘[A] new centre will ensure relationships with industry are genuine partnerships, where too often they have been transactional’, it explains, and it commits to expanding ‘the role life sciences and technology companies can play in service delivery’.

Richard Torbett, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), welcomed elements of the plan, saying they will “transform patients’ lives and take better advantage of the precision medicines and benefits of research that [the life sciences] sector can offer”.

However, Torbett noted that the plan’s successful implementation will “require a fundamental shift in how the UK approaches innovative medicines and vaccines”.

Also responding to the plan, Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund said: “We won’t necessarily feel the changes tomorrow or even next year, but if the NHS and its staff are given the support, resources and political cover to deliver the changes the plan proposes, in five to ten years’ time the health system could feel very different.”