How the new NHS 10-year plan affects YOU – from fat jab roll outs to banishing the 8am GP scramble and AI docs
HEALTH CHECK How the new NHS 10-year plan affects YOU – from fat jab roll outs to banishing the 8am GP scramble and AI docs
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BRITS are about to see their beloved NHS transformed into the 'Neighbourhood Health Service' as part of the Government's long-awaited 10-Year Plan today.
Ministers will vow to keep millions of Brits in England out of hospital and help them on their doorsteps before they fall seriously ill.
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Millions of patients will be treated closer to home under plans to 'fundamentally rewire' the NHS in England
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
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Sir Keir Starmer said the NHS needed to 'reform or die'
Credit: AFP
The future will revolve around local health centres open six days a week outside of hospitals and GP practices.
People will be offered help from doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and even job advisers in the community.
Services will vary locally, with some areas sending teams door-to-door to reach vulnerable and hard-to-reach patients.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting want to end 'perpetual firefighting' in hospitals that are buckling under the demand.
The plan promises thousands more doctors, widespread use of technology and AI, and extra help with mental health, job advice and weight loss.
It comes as Wes told The Sun Britain will be 'fat free' within a decade with more people given access to weight loss jabs
PM Sir Keir said: 'It's reform or die.
'Our 10 Year Health Plan will fundamentally rewire and future-proof our NHS so that it puts care on people's doorsteps, harnesses game-changing tech and prevents illness in the first place.'
The Government wants to move the focus of the NHS away from hospitals, which have become overloaded.
Since 2011, waiting lists have ballooned from 2.5million to 7.5m.
Wes Streeting brutally slams Kemi AND Farage and demands Tories say sorry for how they ran the NHS in blistering attack
The rate of four-hour A&E waits increased to 40 per cent from less than 10 per cent, and around three in 10 cancer patients wait two months or more for treatment, up from closer to one in 10.
Public satisfaction with the NHS has slumped to a record low of 21 per cent.
Ministers said that by 2035 the majority of non-emergency care will take place outside of hospitals.
People will be able to get scans and tests, straightforward treatments, check-ups and broader life help from the neighbourhood clinics.
Local hubs may also dish out debt advice and job support, ministers say.
The Government has vowed to fix staff problems by hiring more doctors, encouraging UK medical training and rewriting doctor contracts to improve funding.
What's changing in the NHS?
A massive overhaul will shift care closer to home and ease pressure on packed hospitals.
Here's what the new 'Neighbourhood Health Service' means for you: 200 new Neighbourhood Health Centres open 12 hours a day, 6 days a week
Centres staffed by nurses, GPs, paramedics, pharmacists, health visitors, rehab teams, and more
Clinics may go door-to-door to find illness early
Most care outside hospitals in homes, pharmacies, GP surgeries, and health centres
NHS app upgraded with AI doctors to answer questions, book appointments, take notes, and write letters
More doctors, nurses, and dentists trained and recruited in the UK
Dental graduates must work in the NHS for at least 3 years before going private
More cash will be funnelled into working-class areas in a bid to shrink the health gap between rich and poor.
Wes Streeting is dismantling time-wasting quangos to cut paperwork, save money and speed up changes to the health service.
He has called for 'more doers and fewer checkers' and his department is dissolving the NHS headquarters to take supreme control of local health boards.
And the NHS app will be turbocharged so patients can book their appointments, check waiting times, quiz an AI doctor or send questions to real medics via their smartphones.
'Makes the NHS simpler'
The Health Secretary said: 'Our plan will turn the NHS on its head.
'By shifting from hospital to community, we will finally bring down devastating hospital waiting lists and stop patients going from pillar to post to get treated.'
Daniel Elkeles, chief of NHS Providers which represents hospital bosses, said: 'This is a win for patients who will be better informed and empowered to direct their care as never before.
'It makes the NHS simpler, ensuring quicker decisions and innovations getting to frontline services faster.
'This is a recipe that offers the prospect of progress where previous plans have faltered.'
Finance experts warn the plans will be costly – but the PM and Health Secretary refuse to pump endless cash into the NHS without results.
Many parts of the plan already happen in some areas but need to be rolled out nationally.
Others have been promised in previous schemes, such as 2019's Long-Term Plan, but failed due to a lack of money or time.
A 'castle built on sand'
Sarah Woolnough, chief of the King's Fund think-tank, said: 'There is plenty to welcome but the public will want to know why it will be different this time.
'Unlike previous plans, this plan will not come with promises of significantly more funding or staff.
'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, the health system could feel very different in five to 10 years' time.'
The Government have said the cash to pay for the new service will come from the £29bn boost to NHS funding announced in the last Budget.
The Conservative MP and shadow health secretary Edward Argar said the NHS needed "reform, not just more cash" and warned that Labour's plan had to be "real and deliverable for patients".
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the whole 10-year NHS strategy would be a "castle built on sand" unless ministers tackled what he described as a "crisis in social care".
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