Last year it was announced that the NHS would receive £20.5 billion extra by 2023 – 24. In return, the NHS was asked to develop a plan for how to spend this additional funding to transform patient care and make sure every penny of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.
The plan that the NHS has developed focuses on prevention. This is centred round keeping people out of hospital by improving their health and investing £4.5 billion in primary and community care, supporting GPs, health visitors and community nurses.
This will lead to the speeding up of diagnosis and improving the treatment of serious conditions, as well as increasing the NHS workforce and bringing the NHS into the digital age. It will also continue the process of increasing social care integration to support older people.
It is fantastic that the Long Term Plan for the NHS has been developed by the NHS. This will ensure that it works for both patients and staff.
Now as we are challenged by recruitment, both in primary care and mental health locally, we need to really work together to drive this plan forward.
