Green / Amber / Red: which of the public’s six tests does the NHS 10 Year Plan meet?

With a proud history of NHS campaigning – on issues from waiting lists, to privatisation, to an NHS pay rise – 38 Degrees has been laser-focused on ensuring the Government’s new plan delivers the change that patients, staff, and the public have been crying out for.

The result is the People’s Priorities for our NHS: six tests developed by experts at IPPR and backed by the public, thousands of whom helped shape these tests.

Today, these tests have been applied to the Government’s newly published plan which launched this morning. 

Below is the Green / Amber / Red scorecard for the six tests, giving an assessment of the plan:

1 Does the plan make it easier to access core NHS services, free at the point of use? 
The Plan sets out a welcome ambition to restore access to core NHS services. It is particularly strong on improving access to general practice and building a new integrated model of neighbourhood health. There are some very positive moves to build more capacity in the wider primary care system including steps to improve access to pharmacy, optometry and dentistry. The plan is less comprehensive on improving access to emergency care and mental health, and says little specific about limiting out-of-pocket costs for patients.

Traffic light score: Amber

2 Are patients getting high-quality, well co-ordinated care from the NHS? 
The plan sets out a comprehensive plan for a far more integrated and coordinated health system based in neighbourhoods not hospitals. Care planning for those with complex needs will make a real difference to making people’s experience with the NHS far more joined up. Concerted action on preventative care should make a difference to the number of patients dying of causes considered preventable. The plan has little to say about how it will coordinate patient care where people are seen by private providers, not NHS organisations.

Traffic light score: Amber

3 Does the plan make the NHS a better place to work? 
Although it is disappointing that the plan does not say more about staff pay, these decisions tend to be left to individual pay review bodies and the unions. What is most welcome in this plan is a rigorous set of commitments around improving the working lives of staff. If these proposals are implemented, this should make a real difference to staff satisfaction and therefore the delivery of the 10 Year Plan as a whole.

Traffic light score: Green

4 Is the NHS getting better at helping people improve their health and prevent illness? 
This is a plan for health, not just for the NHS and there are some very welcome commitments on preventing illness here. This is particularly true of obesity, where Government have announced a ‘moonshot’ mission to end the obesity epidemic and have produced a detailed plan to do so. Reforms to the NHS app, provision in pharmacies and at home will go some way to turning around poor vaccine and screening uptake in the NHS but more is needed in this area. Unfortunately, there is no commitment to guaranteeing and increasing overall spend on prevention across the plan period.

Traffic light score: Amber

5 Does the plan help tackle large and growing inequalities in health?
This plan sets out a welcome vision for tackling inequalities across the NHS. The plan strongly focuses on narrowing inequalities in children’s health and shifting resources to where they are most needed. More attention could be paid to how the NHS partners with other organisations to develop a holistic health inequalities strategy, but the measures announced in the plan provide a good starting point for closing gaps between communities. 

Traffic light score: Green

6 Are patients benefiting from the NHS’s use of technology? Are those who can’t access digital services offered effective alternatives?
The plan sets out a welcome vision to transform care using technology, with a particular focus on making the NHS app a digital front door for patients. This could help simplify our interactions with the NHS and provide a more seamless user experience. The plan provides some detail on how the NHS will securely handle patient data and how those who struggle to use technology will access services going forward but is weaker on these points. 

Traffic light score: Amber