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Metro
14 hours ago
- Health
- Metro
Everything you need to know about the government's new NHS 10-year plan
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The NHS must transform in three distinct ways if it is to continue saving lives for years to come, Sir Keir Starmer has said. This morning, the government has published its 10-Year Plan, setting out how exactly it aims to make the health service in England fit for the future. The 168-page document was unveiled by the Prime Minister, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting at a Health & Wellbeing Centre in Stratford, east London. Many governments have set out long-term strategies to fix the NHS, but Streeting said staff were still 'crying out' for fundamental changes. Here's what you need to know about the plans. Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here. This plan was first announced in September last year, after Lord Darzi published his scathing report into the current state of the health service in England. Initially, the government said it would be coming in spring this year, but instead it's taken until deep into the summer to pull it together. As Darzi suggested in his report, the focus of the plan is on three key areas of change. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The first change is moving the NHS from a service that relies heavily on physical documents to one running on a much faster digital system. One of the foundations of this approach will be the NHS app, which the government wants to turn into a 'world-leading tool for patient access, empowerment and care planning'. Under the plans, patients will be able to use the app to get medical advice, choose their preferred provider, manage medicines, book vaccines, upload health data and co-ordinate a relative's care. Streeting also wants to increase the use of tech such as AI scribes to 'liberate staff from their current burden of bureaucracy and administration'. Another planned shift is from the current hospital-centric model of the NHS to one that places a heavier focus on care in local communities – what the government calls the 'Neighbourhood Health Service'. Over the next three to four years, the share of health spending that goes towards hospitals will fall while investment in out-of-hospital care will proportionally increase. There's a pledge to open a neighbourhood health centre, open at least 12 hours a day and 6 days a week, in every community in England – starting in the places where healthy life expectancy is lowest. The system of hospital outpatients will end 'as we know it' by 2035, the plan says, as more urgent care is delivered in the community. The third change will be from a focus on healing the sick to stopping people from becoming sick in the first place. That involves launching a 'moonshot to end the obesity epidemic', with plans for mandatory targets for the healthiness of sales in the food sector and scaling up the use of weight-loss jabs like Mounjaro. Speaking to the Sun, Streeting said the jabs are 'a route not just to lower weight, but lower taxes', since people will become less reliant on the NHS as they lose weight. This element of the plan also includes the ban on those currently aged under 17 from ever being legally able to buy cigarettes; new standards for alcohol labelling; and boosting uptake of HPV vaccinations. More Trending The Department of Health said this goal would be achieved by 'harnessing a huge cross-societal energy on prevention'. This morning, Keir Starmer praised Rachel Reeves – making her first public appearance since crying at PMQs yesterday – for her work preparing the ground for the transformation. He said: 'It's all down to the foundation we laid this year, all down to the path of renewal that we chose, the decisions made by the Chancellor, by Rachel Reeves, which mean we can invest record amounts in the NHS.' But the Chancellor faces extreme pressure to find savings, and the large amount of funding needed for such profound change in the health service could prove a challenge. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: What Rachel Reeves' tears at PMQs say about the government and Labour MORE: NHS opens first ketamine clinic for children as young as 12 MORE: Crying at work is embarrassing — but it can reveal your biggest strength
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Putting NHS ‘on people's doorsteps' at heart of ten-year health service reboot
Millions will be helped closer to home in a bid to ease the burden on hospitals, under a decade-long blueprint to revive the NHS unveiled by the government Putting the NHS 'on people's doorsteps' is at the heart of plans to reboot our ailing health service. Millions will be helped closer to home in a bid to ease the burden on hospitals, under a decade-long blueprint to revive the NHS. New teams of health professionals are to treat and care for patients nearer where they live, Keir Starmer is due to unveil on Thursday. As Downing Street seeks to recover from a bruising rebellion this week over welfare reforms, the PM is launching the government's 10-year health plan. The strategy is split into three strands to move the NHS from analogue to digital, treatment to prevention, and from hospital to more community care. Starmer is billing the blueprint as 'care on people's doorsteps' – declaring it is time to "reform or die". But the Lib Dems attacked it, branding the plan 'a castle built on sand' – and highlighted the need to 'tackle the crisis in social care'. The so-called 'Neighbourhood Health Service' is set to feature teams established in communities 'to dramatically improve access to the NHS', the government says. The teams are to 'free up overstrained hospitals from perpetual firefighting so they can focus on delivering', it adds. The neighbourhood teams will be based in new health centres, eventually open 12 hours a day, six days a week, the government says. It comes after a damning review of the NHS last year by ex-Labour health minister Lord Darzi found the health service was still struggling 'with the aftershocks of the pandemic'. The NHS was, he concluded, 'in critical condition'. The majority of outpatient care is intended to happen outside of hospitals by 2035 – with less need for hospital appointments for things such as eye care, cardiology, respiratory medicine and mental health. Neighbourhood health services are set to be rolled out nationwide to bring tests, post-op care, nursing and mental health teams closer to homes. The move is designed to give access to a full range of services, allowing hospitals to focus on the sickest. Neighbourhood health centres will be staffed by teams including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative care staff and paramedics. Debt advice, employment support and stop smoking or obesity services will also be included in new services. Meanwhile, 'local areas will be encouraged to trial innovative schemes like community outreach door-to-door – to detect early signs of illness and reduce pressure on GPs and A&E', the government says. The plans also outline training for thousands more GPs, with the government pledging to "bring back the family doctor" – ending the "8am scramble" to get an appointment. Starmer, who led Labour to victory at last summer's election after 14 years of Tory rule, said: 'The NHS should be there for everyone, whenever they need it. But we inherited a health system in crisis, addicted to a sticking plaster approach, and unable to face up to the challenges we face now, let alone in the future. That ends now. Because 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. "That means giving everyone access to GPs, nurses, and wider support all under one roof in their neighbourhood - rebalancing our health system so that it fits around patients' lives, not the other way round. This is not an overnight fix, but our Plan for Change is already turning the tide on years of decline with over four million extra appointments, 1,900 more GPs and waiting lists at their lowest level for two years. But there's more to come. This government is giving patients easier, quicker and more convenient care, wherever they live.' Health secretary Wes Streeting said the plan 'will turn the NHS on its head, delivering one of the most fundamental changes in the way we receive our healthcare in history'. He added: '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. This Government's Plan for Change is creating an NHS truly fit for the future, keeping patients healthy and out of hospital, with care closer to home and in the home.' New tools are to be rolled out to support GPs over the next two years, with AI scribes said to be ending 'the need for clinical notetaking, letter drafting, and manual data entry to free up clinicians' time to focus on treating patients'. And 'digital telephony' will be used so all calls to GP practices are quickly answered, the government says. Meanwhile, dental care professionals are set to work as part of the neighbourhood teams. Dental therapists, who tend to carry out some of the straightforward work of dentists, could undertake check-ups, treatment and referrals, according to the plan. And there will be a new requirement for newly-qualified dentists to practise in the NHS for a minimum period, intended to be three years, the government says. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: 'This plan will be a castle built on sand until ministers finally tackle the crisis in social care. Years of Conservative neglect pushed the NHS to breaking point, with overcrowded A&Es, people waiting weeks to see a GP and parents unable to find a dentist for their children.' He added: 'Without bold action to fix the social care crisis, our NHS will remain overwhelmed and patients will continue to suffer." Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said a key part of making sure the plan is successful "will be resetting the relationship between the NHS and the public so that local communities are placed at the heart of these reforms and people are supported to be active agents in their own health and wellbeing". Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of the King's Fund thinktank, said: "... our call for a fundamental shift of care from hospital to community and a more people-first approach has been echoed by successive governments, so, whilst welcome, the vision itself is not new, the radical change would be delivering the vision." The plans follow the government earlier this year announcing NHS England was being abolished to 'cut bureaucracy'.
