NHS 10-Year Plan Consultation: The public’s priorities for change

As the NHS 10-year plan consultation wraps up its second phase, the 38 Degrees community has once again played a vital role in ensuring the public’s views are at the centre of this huge conversation about the future of our health service.

After all, the NHS is ours: run by us, for us.

This second phase saw 28,947 people share their views and experiences of the NHS via a 38 Degrees survey. This means that, across both phases, the team has helped to centre the voices of 55,506 individuals.

The result is a rich body of evidence covering everything from people’s views on championing healthy lifestyles and using the NHS app, to the role of different healthcare professionals and patient safeguarding.

It’s also a good reminder that – whatever large-scale structural reforms ministers choose to implement – ultimately the public will judge them on what they always have: their personal experience. That includes:

• the quality of care they and their loved ones receive;
• the time it takes for them to be seen;
• the ease at which they can move between services.

This analysis has been funded almost entirely by small donations from members of the public.

The 38 Degrees community is made up of supporters in every constituency across the country, united by a desire to build a fairer, more respectful and more sustainable Britain. It’s clear that a properly funded NHS, run by the public for the public, is integral to that goal.

But it is a goal that remains under threat. We have played our part in this huge consultation, and we will judge the government on the plan itself.

If the ten year plan is bold, and sets the NHS on a path to recovery, we’ll back it.

If the government isn’t bold, or if they fail to save the NHS, hundreds of thousands of people in this community will hold them to account without fear or favour.

You can see the Phase Two report in full here.