Today, the Prime Minister launched a new era for the NHS, bringing more easily accessible care closer to home.
Our plans for the NHS are bold, ambitious, and revolutionary, and build on what we’ve already achieved:
- We promised to deliver an extra two million appointments in our first year in government. We’ve delivered more than four million.
- We’ve already recruited more than 1,500 newly qualified GPs, cut waiting lists, and invested in desperately needed upgrades to hospitals and GP surgeries
- We promised to build an NHS fit for the future, and improving access to community healthcare is core to that mission.
We’re making progress, but I know there is more to be done so that everyone in Wycombe can feel the benefit, today’s announcements will be integral to that.
Today’s announcements
Millions of patients will be treated and cared for closer to their home by new teams of health professionals as the Government’s Plan for Change delivers a brand-new era for the NHS and delivers one of the most seismic shifts in care in the history of the health service.
The launch of a Neighbourhood Health Service will see pioneering teams, some based entirely under one roof, set up in local communities across the country, to dramatically improve access to the NHS. As part of the Government’s aim to shift care out of hospitals and into the community, they will free up overstrained hospitals from perpetual firefighting so they can focus on delivering only the best, most cutting-edge, and personalised care.
These neighbourhood health centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services right on people’s doorsteps – stopping them from having to make lengthy trips to hospitals. Neighbourhood teams will include staff like nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative care staff, and paramedics. Community health workers and volunteers will play a pivotal role in these teams, and 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.
Launching the government’s 10 Year Health Plan today, the Prime Minister set out how moving care from hospitals to the community is one of the three key shifts required to tackle the inherited challenges and neglect of the NHS, make sure it is equipped to look after a modern society, and ensure people feel the change and improvements in healthcare that they voted for.
The 10-year plan can be found here: Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England