Our response to the 10-year health plan for England

Change is a given in the healthcare landscape, and while that has always been the case, the shifts taking place currently need to go further than ever before. Anticipation was therefore rife for months ahead of publication of the government's 10-year plan for healthcare in England.

Now it’s out, the system has already begun to react. The ‘three radical shifts’ the plan is calling for, namely hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention, are admirable aspirations, but I can’t help but feel there are probably more questions than answers at this stage of the game.

Having read the 168-page publication from cover to cover twice now, I am of course proud and pleased to see the work of Ways to Wellness, along with many of our partners in the region, featured on page 53, primarily surrounding our PROSPeR prototype. But given one of the ‘shifts’ the plan wants is ‘from hospital to community’, it is very light on how this will be done, and more specifically the vital role the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector can play in supporting that shift as a meaningful strategic partner to the NHS.

More haste, less speed

An overhaul of the current system is undoubtedly necessary, but the plan should seek to be more transformative, going beyond alleviating pressure on the system as it is, and doing more to identify and implement ways of doing things that more successfully reach those who need our help most, and who suffer from the injustice of health inequality.

We know that costs need to be controlled, but sometimes rapid cost-cutting for its own sake, I feel leads to unhelpful disruption now, and ‘row-back’ later when it is realised that value has been inadvertently lost in the haste.

Will autumn be a second spring?

It will be interesting to see which localities within the North East and North Cumbria will be selected for the intensive national coaching programme ahead of the first phase rollout of neighbourhood health hubs in September, but it is encouraging that areas with the highest levels of deprivation, and therefore the most need, are to be prioritised.

Applications are being sought from a wide range of locality based partners – ‘coalitions of the willing’ – who will need the support of their Integrated Care Board (ICB) at a time of huge change and uncertainty. I’m not sure it’s a given that those representing the areas most in need will have the capacity to give these submissions the attention they may require.

In the North East and North Cumbria, we have a high-performing ICB, whose geographical boundary is not being altered as it is in some areas of the country, meaning we can build on pre-existing relationships between provider and sector partners. I feel this should be seen as an opportunity to build on the strong and diverse VCSE sector that exists in the region, a sector well rehearsed in finding innovative ways to support  the communities we serve. Indeed, many of the non-medical intervention prototypes we test at Ways to Wellness are great examples of the kind of change we need to see.

Ready and willing

We should be rightly proud of our health service, which carries out incredible work each and every day under incredible pressure. In recognising the VCSE’s role as a strategic partner in implementing the three shifts, the system will be better supported to transform, easier to navigate, and more efficient too.

As Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock articulated on the day the 10-year plan was published, looking beyond medical solutions towards social determinants of health is, "the quantum leap we need to take into a new way of seeing healthcare".

We look forward to being deeply engaged in the many discussions that will no doubt take place over the coming weeks and months as the plan begins to bear fruit, and to playing our part in helping it to do so.

Next
Next

Could you help lead us as our new Head of Finance?