Landmark 10-Year Health Plan to transform NHS delivery in local communities

Landmark 10-Year Health Plan to transform NHS delivery in local communities

• Prime Minister launches government’s 10 Year Health Plan to bring the NHS closer to home.
• Neighbourhood Health Services to be rolled out across the country, bringing diagnostics, mental health, post-op, rehab, and nursing to people’s doorsteps.
• Neighbourhood health centres will house services under one roof, open at evenings and weekends.
• Plan for Change will train thousands more family doctors, transform hospital outpatient appointments, and provide personalised care plans for complex needs.

The Prime Minister has unveiled sweeping new health reforms that will transform how people in North West Leicestershire access NHS services by delivering care right to their neighbourhoods.

The new 10 Year Health Plan, aims to shift care away from overstretched hospitals and into communities, improving access and convenience while relieving pressure on A&E and hospital wards. It will see the creation of Neighbourhood Health Services, including centres offering diagnostics, rehab, mental health care, nursing, and more.

Neighbourhood Health Centres will bring together doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social care workers, and mental health professionals, backed by community health teams, volunteers and cutting-edge digital tools all under one roof, open evenings and weekends.

Amanda Hack said:

“This is a huge moment for healthcare in North West Leicestershire. Our communities have long needed a more accessible and joined-up NHS, and this plan will deliver exactly that. With services on people’s doorsteps, residents might not need to travel to Leicester, Derby or Nottingham for vital care in the future. This is about putting patients first.”

We’re lucky that locally we have a fantastic set of GP practices and the GP Federation, who are all working together to provide better patient care and trial innovative ways of working. We must support them with a modern, forward-looking healthcare system which builds on their work.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

“Our 10 Year Health Plan will turn the NHS on its head, delivering one of the most fundamental changes in the way we receive our healthcare in history. 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.”

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said.  

“A Neighbourhood Health Service is at the heart of the NHS 10 Year Plan and it could be a game-changer for our older population if we get it right. For far too long healthcare in the community has been fragmented and hard to access and navigate for older people, so crucial opportunities to nip their emerging health problems in the bud get missed.

At Age UK we aspire to an NHS that proactively supports older people to stay as well as is possible for as long as possible, and if delivered well the Neighbourhood Health Service really could help achieve it.” 

As well as improving access to care for patients, The move to more care in the community will put the NHS back on the path to long-term financial sustainability. A recent study found that £100 spent on community care could achieve, on average, £131 in hospital savings.

The government’s Plan to cut waiting lists has seen them fall to their lowest level in two years, including the first drop in April for 17 years. An extra 4.2 million appointments have been delivered since July last year, over double the government’s target. 10 new surgical hubs have opened since January, and over 1,500 more GPs have been recruited since October.