NHS App to Shape the 10-Year Health Plan

The government has launched Change.NHS.uk, an online engagement platform for the public, NHS staff and experts to share ideas for the upcoming 10-year health plan. The initiative seeks to tackle the challenges facing the NHS while prioritising the voices of patients and staff

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Digital Health

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Earlier this year, the government launched an online engagement platform for the public, NHS staff, and experts to contribute their ideas for shaping the upcoming 10-year health plan. Change.NHS.uk will remain active until early 2025 and can be accessed through the NHS App.

In a press release, Wes Streeting, health and social care secretary said: “In order to save the things we love about the NHS, we need to change it. Our 10-Year Health Plan will transform the NHS to make it fit for the future, and it will have patients’ and staff’s fingerprints all over it.

Addressing Complex Challenges

Plans were also unveiled to create a single patient record that consolidates health information, test results and letters in one location, accessible through the NHS App.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive at NHS England, said: “NHS staff are facing an unprecedented number of challenges – with record demand for care, alongside growing pressures from an ageing population, rising levels of multiple long-term illnesses and patients with more complex needs often hampered by working in crumbling buildings with outdated tech, meaning too many patients are waiting too long for care they need.”

The Reality of Experiences

This initiative marks the largest staff engagement exercise in NHS history, as leaders aim to capture frontline insights along with input from patients and the public. This national conversation about the future of the NHS follows Lord Ara Darzi’s independent report on the health service.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, added: “No one working in the NHS will argue that it works perfectly – its staff have been crying out for change and we hope the ten-year plan will deliver for them and their communities, including by listening to the reality of their experiences.”