NHS Long Term Plan

The NHS Long Term Plan committed £4.5 billion more for primary medical and community health services by 2023/24. 
This will support better care for patients outside hospital in their local communities.

 

Improved funding of NHS, averaging 3.4% a year over the next five years, compared with 2% over the past five years
Builds upon NHS Five Year Forward View

National Health Service was founded in 1948.

Chapter One: New Service Model

  1. Online ‘digital’ GP consultations

  2. Primary care networks.
    GP practices – typically covering 30-50,000 people – will be funded to work together creating genuinely integrated teams of GPs, community health and social care staff.

  3. New expanded community health teams

  4. Introduction of ‘social prescribing’ in partnership with patients’ groups and the voluntary sector.

  5. Establish Urgent treatment centres (UTCs)

  6. ‘Same day emergency care’ without need for an overnight stay

  7. Dedicated pathways for specialised conditions, such as major trauma, stroke and other critical illnesses conditions

Chapter Two: Prevention and health inequalities

Prevention
Evidence-based NHS prevention programmes, including to
cut smoking;
to reduce obesity, partly by doubling enrolment in the successful Type 2 NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme;
to limit alcohol-related A&E admissions;
and to lower air pollution.

Health inequalities
Every local area will be required to set out specific measurable goals and mechanisms by which they will contribute to narrowing health inequalities
Specific action:
cut smoking in pregnancy and long term mental health groups;
ensure support for people with learning disability and/or autism;
provide outreach services to people experiencing homelessness;
help people with severe mental illness find and keep a job;
and improve uptake of screening and early cancer diagnosis for people who currently miss out.

Chapter Three: Care quality and outcomes improvement

  1. Builds upon NHS Five Year Forward View’s focus on cancer, mental health, diabetes, multimorbidity and healthy ageing including dementia.

  2. Extends focus to children’s health, cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, and learning disability and autism

  3. Improving cancer survival, partly by increasing the proportion of cancers diagnosed early, from a half to three quarters.

  4. Reducing maternity-related deaths

  5. Increase the number of planned operations and cut long waits

  6. Faster access to community and crisis mental health services for both adults and particularly children and young people.

Chapter Four: Current workforce pressures will be tackled

  1. Expand the number of nursing and other undergraduate places, ensuring that well-qualified candidates are not turned away as happens now.

  2. Offer new routes into nursing and other disciplines, including apprenticeships, nursing associates, online qualification,

  3. International recruitment will be significantly expanded

  4. More flexible rostering

Chapter Five: Digitally enabled care across the NHS

  1. Digital access to records granted for patients and clinicians

  2. Ready access to decision support and AI

  3. Predictive techniques to support local Integrated Care Systems to plan and optimise care for their populations.

  4. Secure linked clinical, genomic and other data support new medical breakthroughs

Chapter Six: Taxpayers’ investment will be used to maximum effect

  1. Sets out how the 3.4% five year NHS funding settlement will help put the NHS back onto a sustainable financial path.

  2. Factored in demand growth from growing and ageing population

  3. Increased investment in community and primary care and hospital funding

  4. Reforms to the NHS’ financial architecture, payment systems and incentives. It establishes a new Financial Recovery Fund and ‘turnaround’ process.

  5. Achieve a £700 million reduction in administrative costs across providers and commissioners both nationally and locally.

Chapter Seven: Explains next steps in implementing the Long Term Plan

  1. Establishing a new NHS Assembly

  2. Apply findings of the Clinical Standards Review and the National Implementation Framework

  3. Create publicly-accountable integrated care locally

  4. To streamline the national administrative structures of the NHS

  5. Remove the overly rigid competition and procurement regime applied to the NHS.

  6. Create Integrated Care Systems.
    ICSs bring together local organisations in a pragmatic and practical way to deliver the ‘triple integration’ of
    primary and specialist care,
    physical and mental health services,
    and health with social care.

Dr Rajesh Varma