Neighbourhood health centres will bring services to people’s doorsteps, according to the 10-year plan, which will be published tomorrow.
The plan will focus on a ‘neighbourhood health service’ that will bring teams under one neighbourhood health centre roof. Staff will include nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative care staff, and paramedics.
Community health workers and volunteers will also ‘play a pivotal role’ in the teams, with local areas encouraged to trial community outreach door-to-door to detect early signs of illness and reduce pressure on GPs and A&E.
The centres will provide typically hospital-based services, such as diagnostics, post-operative care and rehab, and offer services such as debt advice, employment support and stop smoking and weight management services.
These centres will ‘eventually’ be open 12 hours a day, six days a week, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) added.
The DHSC said that new contracts would also be introduced to encourage GP practices to cover a wider geographical area, and that ‘thousands more GPs’ will be trained under the 10-year plan.
Newly qualified dentists will also be required to practice in the NHS for a minimum period, which is intended to be three years, to try and improve access to NHS dentistry.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Our 10-year health plan will turn the NHS on its head, delivering one of the most fundamental changes in the way we receive our healthcare in history.
‘By shifting from hospital to community, we will finally bring down devastating hospital waiting lists and stop patients going from pillar to post to get treated.
‘This Government’s Plan for Change is creating an NHS truly fit for the future, keeping patients healthy and out of hospital, with care closer to home and in the home.’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer added: ‘Our 10-year health plan will fundamentally rewire and future-proof our NHS so that it puts care on people’s doorsteps, harnesses game-changing tech and prevents illness in the first place.
‘That means giving everyone access to GPs, nurses, and wider support all under one roof in their neighbourhood – rebalancing our health system so that it fits around patients’ lives, not the other way round.
‘This is not an overnight fix, but our Plan for Change is already turning the tide on years of decline with over four million extra appointments, 1,900 more GPs and waiting lists at their lowest level for two years.
‘But there’s more to come. This government is giving patients easier, quicker and more convenient care, wherever they live.’
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the plan was a ‘vital step’ towards a more preventative, community-based NHS.
‘Bringing care closer to people’s homes through blended neighbourhood health teams recognises the complex and interconnected challenges many patients face, and it is the right direction for both improving outcomes and alleviating pressure on hospitals,’ he said.
‘In many areas of the country, general practices working at scale through primary care networks and GP Federations, are already partnering alongside other organisations to deliver joined up care. It will be important to build on these positive successes.
‘Delivering on this ambition will require sustained investment in digital and estates, support for the NHS’s workforce, and a commitment to decentralise national control by empowering local leaders to do what is best for their populations. On behalf of our members, we are eager to work with the government to help turn this bold vision into lasting change.’
Other details of the 10-year plan have already been unveiled, including a partnership between the Government and food retailers to tackle obesity, plans to increase patient access to information, review GP funding allocations as a way to tackle health inequalities, and enable patients to access clinical trials through the app.
It was also revealed last week that under-screened women will be offered HPV self-sampling kits to detect cervical cancer as part of the plan. These will be sent to women who have missed their invite to the cervical screening programme and aims to make tests more convenient.
Recent data showed inequalities in uptake of the HPV vaccination, which is used as protection against cervical cancer. HPV coverage for female year 10 students was lowest in London (64.9%) and highest in the South East (82.7%), according to the UK Health Security Agency data.
