10 Year Health Plan for England sets out vision to provide care closer to home
People will receive more care at home and in their communities, powered by technology, in plans outlined in the government’s 10-Year Health Plan for England.
The plan sets out a clear and ambitious vision centred around three big shifts to help the NHS get fit for the future:
- From hospital to community: transforming healthcare with extended neighbourhood health centres, more GP appointments and round-the-clock mental health support – all designed to bring quality care closer to home.
- From analogue to digital: creating a seamless healthcare experience through digital innovation; AI-enhanced clinical services and specialist self-referrals via the NHS app, a digital red book for children’s health information, and online booking.
- From sickness to prevention: supporting people’s health and wellbeing by making healthy choices easier to prevent ill-health.
The plan aims to empower people to take control of their health and wellbeing and is shaped by people’s experiences, including the 3,400 pieces of feedback that were shared at 50 engagement sessions that took place in Devon last year.
Torbay and South Devon has always been ahead of the game when it comes to providing the care outlined in the government’s plan. A decade ago, we became the first NHS trust in the country to provide integrated health and care services, in partnership with Torbay Council, to support people to stay well and independent in their communities and when they need a hospital admission, getting them home quickly.
Services like the Jack Sears Rehabilitation Centre in Paignton play a vital role in helping people regain, while the Newton Abbot Community Hospital breakfast club is helping to rebuild people’s confidence as they prepare to return home.
People are receiving a faster diagnosis and treatment for cancer, lung and heart disease thanks to significant investment in services including our Community Diagnostic Centre, which gives people access to tests in town rather than visiting hospital, allowing our teams to focus on more complex and urgent and emergency care.
The launch of a new single electronic patient record next spring will transform the way we provide care, giving staff across Devon’s acute hospitals and community sites access to their patients’ health and care information quickly and securely to deliver high quality, joined-up, safer care, and patients won’t have to remember their medical history or repeat the same information.
Chairman Chris Balch said: “We have long recognised the benefits of integration and deliver a substantial proportion of our services in the community.
“I can see many of the ideas, suggestions and concerns that people shared in the Change NHS engagement earlier this year reflected in the national published plan. We will ensure that the local insights we received directly inform our local plans.
“Continuing these local conversations will be really important as we deliver the three shifts, moving more of our services out into the community, implementing our electronic patient record next spring and supporting more prevention, and we are committed to doing so.”
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