PIF members and other health bodies share their reactions to the government's 10 year health plan

Charities and health organisations – many of them PIF members – have been sharing their reactions to the NHS 10 year health plan, Fit for the Future, which was published on 3 July. 

Here we round up some of the comments made about the plan's content.
 

Kidney Care UK has shared its response to elements of the NHS plan while seeking assurances about data sharing systems, improving knowledge of kidney disease and digital accessibility. The PIF member said: "Digital innovations have the potential to revolutionise healthcare but they have to be accessible to all and not create additional challenges and complications. Extreme care must be taken so that the technological developments don’t increase inequalities." Supporting PIF's call for credible, personalised health information and advice to be embedded throughout the healthcare journey, Kidney Care UK added: "We believe that new specialist patient outreach services could help those who are digitally excluded to take control of their own healthcare by helping them to understand how the NHS App works and how they can use it."

PIF member Asthma + Lung UK also welcomed the government’s commitment to tackling health inequalities and improving neighbourhood health but the charity's Chief Executive Sarah Sleet said: "It’s very disappointing that there is no acknowledgement of the role of lung disease driving the biggest gap in health inequalities of all the major conditions. We need the same commitment to tackle lung health as shown for other major conditions like heart disease and cancer. Without it, the government will miss their opportunity to close the biggest health inequality gap of all."

Blood Cancer UK said it was looking forward to hearing more detail about the ideas in the plan. The PIF member added: "People with blood cancer have told us they want to access care closer to home. So, we welcome a Neighbourhood Health Service that can provide this where it is appropriate. However, it is important to recognise that blood cancers require extremely specialised hospital care and the NHS must support all patients, wherever they live, to access this. We must also ensure good communication throughout, and that primary and specialist care is effectively coordinated."

A statement from Healthwatch England – the scrapping of which is confirmed in the plan – said: "The plan's ambition, which proposes bold reforms on how services are funded, delivered, and evaluated, is welcome, with a strong focus on empowering patients throughout." 

Healthwatch went on to highlight three things they feel are absent from the plan: 

• Increased support for people with disabilities and communication needs to interact with the NHS.
• Better cost-of-living support, including improved schemes to help people with healthcare costs, such as transport.
• More systematic offers of help and support for people while waiting for care.

Dr Sam Roberts, NICE's chief executive, also welcomed the plan and said: "The plan gives NICE the power to get medicines to patients faster, reduces the postcode lottery for high impact healthtech, and maximises the value for money of existing innovations used in the NHS. After years of unprecedented pressure on the health service, the plan charts a clear path from reactive care to prevention, from hospital to community, and from underused innovation to value-driven adoption."

Professor Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said: “The government has outlined a clear commitment to tackling inequalities and placing a duty on healthcare providers to identify and address disparities in access, experience, and outcomes for patients, and in the experiences and opportunities for staff. In its implementation, it’s essential that the plan tackles inequity in all its forms and takes account of the complex ways in which forms of inequity interact."

Mental Health Foundation said there is a lot to be positive about in the government’s vision. Chief Executive Mark Rowland added: "We’re pleased to see the government beginning to recognise the drastic effect issues like problem debt and unemployment can have on people’s mental health. We hope that their commitment to integrating support for these types of problems with the NHS is the beginning of a radical shift to prevention."

Dr Becks Fisher, Director of Research and Policy at the Nuffield Trust, said there is much to like about the plan but questions whether there is enough funding to meet the scale of its ambitions. Dr Fisher said the plan also contains some worrying contradictions, adding: "There is righteous concern that the patient voice is too often unheard or overlooked. But Healthwatch – the independent body tasked with understanding the needs and concerns of people using health and care services and speaking out on their behalf – is to be scrapped. And a plan which aims to reduce health inequalities but is full of digital ambition lacks clarity on how the risk of digital exclusion will be mitigated."

PIF member National Voices welcomed the plan's emphasis on improving day-to-day patient experience and outcomes and a shift in resources to tackle health inequalities. However, Jacob Lant, Chief Executive of National Voices, said: "Shifting resources is only half the battle. We need to see outcomes on health inequalities used as one of the key success measures for NHS leaders as a new culture of accountability is developed through implementation." Mr Lant also welcomed the prominence given to patient choice and experience in the plan, while adding: "But decommissioning the Healthwatch network leaves big shoes to fill in terms of how the system listens to people and communities about what’s working and what’s not."

Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, also a PIF member, said there is plenty to welcome in the details seen so far in the plan but added: "The test for this plan is whether the public believe it will be different this time, and whether people’s satisfaction with services can be restored relatively quickly. Now the government has published its health plan, everything rests on how the government will work with all parts of the health and care system to deliver on its commitments."

Download the full 10 year health plan: Fit for the Future on the GOV.UK website here.