HSU Reflects on 10-Year Plan Designed to Transform NHS

The Government published a new 10-year plan for the NHS today, designed to create a new model of care through transformational change. The plan outlines three radical shifts to transform the NHS and ensure it is fit for the future.

• Hospital to community
• Analogue to digital
• Sickness to prevention

To support the scale of change needed, the plan outlines how the whole NHS will be ready to deliver these three shifts at pace:

• Through a new operating model
• By ushering in a new era of transparency
• By creating a new workforce model with staff genuinely aligned with the future direction of reform
• Through a reshaped innovation strategy
• By taking a different approach to NHS finances.

Reflecting on the plan, Director of Clinical and Rehabilitation Services at HSU, Dr. Neil Langridge commented:

“Health Sciences University welcomes the publication of the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England that proposes a commitment to tackling widening health inequalities and on preventative health measures.

“HSU is a local health partner to the NHS, and very much supports the absolute need to address a wellness model of health care, rather than maintaining a sickness focused approach.

“We particularly welcome the focus on community settings, where the utilisation of more neighbourhood health services is a central core to the radical changes planned.

“In the last 2.5 years, HSU has provided local community care with its state-of-the-art integrated rehabilitation service to over 35,000 contacts from the local community and NHS services.

“The clinical workforce to address this agenda could be further supplemented by the utilisation of student clinics and wellness opportunities provided by health-based education institutions. At HSU, we offer onsite clinical provision of numerous, diverse student services such as dietetics, physiotherapy, chiropractic and podiatry.

“HSU also supports action to reduce waiting times for both diagnosis and treatment of MSK and other long-term conditions. Hosting a community diagnostic centre as part of our on-site provision, we firmly support timely, local interventions at HSU as well as high-quality, digitally-enabled preventative measures to drive a positive change in the health of the nation.”

Head of Research at HSU, Dr. Julie Northam, continued: “We are pleased to see that the 10-year health plan is strongly aligned to our plans for a Research Centre for Preventive Health Care at HSU.

“Our Centre will serve as a catalyst for this national agenda, bringing together interdisciplinary research across nutrition, health promotion, ageing, early detection, long-term conditions, and precision prevention.

“Its focus on tackling health inequalities, embedding digital innovation, and working in partnership with communities and the health system reflects the core priorities of the plan.

“Through applied, translational research, the Centre will help deliver real-world solutions to pressing public health challenge and support ambitions to reduce disease burden, close healthy life expectancy gaps, and increase health, wellbeing and quality of life for current and future generations.”

You can read the 10 Year Health Plan for England here.