Streeting: 10 Year Health Plan empowers patients

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting has outlined how the 10 Year Health Plan brings services closer to patients.

The plan, published on the government’s website, sets a new course for the NHS, outlining ‘three shifts’ – from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention – to personalise care, give more power to patients and ensure the best of the NHS is available to all.

Speaking in the House of Commons today, Streeting said: “We will turn our national health service into a neighbourhood health service. The principle is simple: care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed and in a hospital if necessary.”

He added: “The NHS will be organised around patients, rather than patients having to organise their lives around the NHS.”

The plan details:

• restoration of GP access – ending the 8am rush for appointments by increasing GP numbers and use of new technologies
• GP-led Neighbourhood Health Service – new GP contracts to create single and multi-neighbourhood providers
• redesigning outpatient and diagnostic services – reducing the need for patients to travel for appointments and expanding the use AI-enabled digital diagnostic tools
• redesigning urgent and emergency care – patients will be able to self-book into A&E via NHS App or 111
• NHS App – this will become the ‘front door’ and the tool to organise care around patient needs, choices and schedules
• single patient record – patients will have a single, secure account of their data and enable more coordinated, personalised and predictive care
• obesity and physical activity – a pioneering industry collaboration is testing innovative models of delivering weight loss services and a national campaign will be launched aiming to encourage people to move more.

New operating model

A new operating model will devolve power from the centre to local providers, frontline staff and patients.

The plan details:

• Integrated Care Boards – will be strategic commissioners of local health services, including neighbourhood health services, with a focus on population health outcomes and financial sustainability 
• high performing local providers – will have greater autonomy and flexibility to develop services free from central control
• partnership with local government to develop neighbourhood health – along with other local partners and a stronger role for Strategic Authorities as ICB board members
• an end to bureaucratic planning process – a much simpler set of requirements – a strategic commissioning plan for ICBs and a neighbourhood health plan for local partners at single or upper tier level.
• abolition of Integrated Care Partnerships.

What it means for NHS staff

The plan aims to set new standards for flexible, modern NHS employment, expanding training opportunities and reducing admin.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Streeting confirmed that a new workforce plan will be announced this autumn in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.

• Read an open letter to NHS staff about the plan on NHS England’s website.

Other key details relating to NHS workforce:

• international labour – dependence on this to reduce to less than 10% of new recruits by 2035
• prioritise UK medical graduates – for foundation training and UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period for foundation and specialty training by 2035
• update and reform employment contracts – start a conversation on significant contractual changes that provide modern incentives and rewards for high quality and productive care (by 2035).

Reaction

Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund said: “There are more than 150 pages of a vision of how things could be different in the NHS by 2035, but nowhere near enough detail about how it will be implemented. Without this detail it is hard to judge how the ambitions written on the page will make a difference to the reality of the care we receive over the next few years. From what we can see in the plan, there will be regional pilots for some proposals, which means some areas of the country will see improvements to NHS services before others.”

Read the full statement on the King’s Fund website.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), said: “It’s good to see that the Government has ambitious plans for the NHS, but we need more detail on how what is being proposed will actually be delivered for patients, and how it will be funded. For example, commitments to bring more care under one roof will require enough available space, in the context that many GP practices are in dire need of renovation and unable to meet the current needs of patients.”
Read the full statement on the RCGP website.