The UK Government today (Thursday 3 July) published Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, a blueprint aimed at reshaping the NHS with long-term improvements in access, technology, and prevention.
According to the official executive summary released by the Department of Health and Social Care, the plan will reorient the health system along three main areas.
Firstly, it aims to move services away from hospitals and into the community by launching a new "Neighbourhood Health Service," designed to bring care closer to people’s homes through local hubs and home-based services.
Secondly, the plan promises to transform the NHS from an analogue to a digital system, with a significant overhaul of digital tools, including an expanded NHS App, a single patient record, the use of AI in diagnostics, and the introduction of ambient voice technology in clinical settings.
Thirdly, the strategy will shift focus from sickness to prevention, placing a greater emphasis on public health initiatives that empower individuals to make healthier lifestyle choices and directly target issues such as obesity, smoking, and alcohol misuse.
The UK Government today (Thursday 3 July) published Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England
The plan also outlines a comprehensive reform of NHS operations. It proposes a “devolved and diverse” model for the NHS, introducing new local operating frameworks and transparency initiatives such as publicly accessible quality ratings for health services.
Financially, the government will introduce a value-based funding model designed to reward high-quality care, encourage productivity improvements of 2% annually, and eliminate the routine practice of deficit bailouts.
Alongside these changes, the plan sets out a workforce development strategy that will include AI training programmes and flexible career paths, aiming to establish the NHS as an excellent place to work.
The plan also outlines a comprehensive reform of NHS operations
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the reforms as a moral imperative to modernise and future-proof the NHS, reiterating his administration’s guiding principle of “reform or die.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed that £29 billion in funding has been safeguarded for this programme, though suggestions of future tax increases to sustain investment have already sparked political debate.
Reactions to the plan have begun to emerge
Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, an independent health policy think tank, welcomed many aspects of the plan but questioned how quickly it would deliver real improvements for patients and NHS staff.
“As the government publishes its 10-year plan for health today,” Woolnough said, “what patients, the public, and those working in the NHS will want to know is: why it will be different this time, and how soon it will lead to improvements. When will it mean people can see a GP more easily, or get mental health support for their child, or not wait hours in A&E?”
She added that there was “plenty to welcome in the details we’ve seen so far, with the biggest changes outlined being about how people access NHS services, through the rollout of new Neighbourhood Health Centres and a much greater role for the NHS app.”
However, Woolnough cautioned that while The King’s Fund has long called for a shift of care from hospital to community and a more people-first approach, a call echoed by successive governments, the real test will be in delivery. “The vision itself is not new; the radical change would be delivering the vision,” she said.
What patients, the public, and those working in the NHS will want to know is: why it will be different this time
Legal experts have also weighed in on the government’s innovation ambitions.
Philip Pugh, a partner in the corporate team at law firm Browne Jacobson, specialising in healthcare, welcomed the proposal to introduce “innovator passports” aimed at streamlining approval processes for new MedTech products.
Pugh said: “The introduction of innovator passports should slash red tape and speed up the rollout of MedTech applications across the NHS.” He explained that under the current system, “MedTech businesses will often be asked for the same data by different NHS trusts.”
Removing multiple compliance assessments and duplicated requests, he argued, would make the UK a more attractive base for such businesses, while also benefiting NHS patients by offering “greater and quicker access to the latest treatments, without falling victim to the ‘postcode lottery’ that has favoured those living in trusts that have made breakthroughs with such treatments.”
However, Pugh warned that “scepticism will remain about how the innovator passport is rolled out via the digital platform MedTech Compass.”
He pointed out that variations in affluence, diversity, and genetics between local populations could affect the system’s fairness and reliability. “Therefore, safeguards will be required on compliance processes from a patient safety and data protection perspective,” he said.
Pugh also echoed wider concerns about the uneven state of NHS digital infrastructure.
“The government must also recognise that not all trusts are at the same stage of digital maturity, as outlined by NHS Confederation CEO Matthew Taylor,” he noted, adding: “Investment in technology will be crucial as cost-cutting measures won’t turn around the NHS.”