The UK government has published its 10 Year Health Plan for England, which will see millions of patients be treated and cared for closer to home by new teams of health professionals.
Set out by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on 3 July, the plan aims to “reinvent the NHS” through three “radical shifts”: hospital to community; analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.
Neighbourhood health services will seek to provide more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services “right on people’s doorsteps” 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.
The plan also outlines significant changes to the NHS App, to enhance access, empower patients and improve care planning. By 2028, through the app, patients will be able to get instant advice for non-urgent care, choose their preferred provider, book directly for tests, consultations and to manage their medicines.
A new genomics population health service will be created and will be accessible to all by the end of the decade, 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; expanding access to weight loss medications and tackling alcohol consumption.
The plan also pushes for the NHS to be a better partner with industry. “The 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 that they will “transform patients’ lives and take better advantage of the precision medicines and benefits of research that our 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.”