In December 2024, we wrote our response to the NHS 10-Year Health Plan Consultation, which envisioned a thriving NHS with quality at its core, for staff, patients and for value to society. Now, more than half a year on, the 10 Year Health Plan is here.
The plan described an NHS at a crossroads. The three main pillars of the policy are:
- hospital to community
- analogue to digital
- sickness to prevention.
Our aims align with these three shifts, and the projects we undertake will attempt to support these three pillars.
Hospital to community
The neighbourhood health aspect aims to create healthier communities, helping people of all ages live healthy, active and independent lives for as long as possible.
We believe that neighbourhood health should focus on the fundamentals of ill health.
Feel Safe
A healthier community depends on a sense of safety that is achieved in three areas.
Safety
- Perception of neighbourhood safety with increased numbers of people outdoors and a perceived lack of crime and antisocial behaviour.
- Psychological Safety where people feel they can be themselves and share their strengths and assets without fear of being ignored or belittled.
- Without safety, there is no health.
Valued
- This is where NHS professionals and organisations have human connections treating people as equals. This means: ‘conversations not consultations’, ‘do with and not to patients’ and ‘understand what matters to you as opposed to what’s the matter with you’.
- We have to organise services around patient needs
- Staff need to be empowered to make their own decisions based on human principles of empathy, understanding, respect and active listening. No more directives from the centre.
Belong
- Building the community. This is about supporting local trusted organisations to help reach those communities who are left behind. More community workers are needed. The NHS needs to start where people are and bring them.
Our programmes and the 10-year plan
We welcome the hospital to community drive as this as it is in league with our Beat the Street programme which focuses on bringing a whole community together, increasing connection with the environment and each other through movement and fun.
Beat the Street has now reached two million people and, on average, engages 12 per cent of the local population.
Our aim, which we often achieve, is to over-represent disadvantaged communities and to support their health and activity.
Physical inactivity is one of the greatest threats to our nation’s health, contributing to 1 in 6 deaths in the UK, increased risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and poor mental health. Its annual costs are estimated to £7.4 billion to the economy.
Beat the Street promotes the reduction of inactivity and we’re on board with a plan that aims to do the same.
In the plan, it states:
“Our aim is to establish a neighbourhood health centre in every community, a one-stop-shop for patient care and the place from which multi-disciplinary teams operate. Neighbourhood health centres will co-locate NHS, local authority and voluntary sector services, to help create an offer that meets population needs holistically.”
Neighbourhood health’s focus on a ‘healthy, active and independent lives for as long as possible’ approach is a step in the right direction to ensure that our own activity supports the growth of healthy places and engaged communities.
Community-led programmes, like Beat the Street, in tandem with local and bespoke healthcare provision and community/voluntary groups, can be a catalyst to creating health and reducing workload on the NHS.
New technology can boost the wellbeing of the healthcare workforce
The plan aims to use ‘new technology’ to “liberate staff from admin and allow people to manage their care as easily as they bank or shop online”
The NHS is often associated with technology that is lagging behind the private sector. At the same time, it is often proposed as the panacea to improving its performance.
Simplifying and streamlining technology will go some-way to improving the experience and morale of NHS staff with less time taken undertaking administrative tasks thanks to more responsive and effective systems.
Workplace wellbeing is central to our Roots Health Academy offering. Roots nurtures wellbeing through meticulously researched, evidence-based, innovative approaches designed for the ever-evolving dynamics of today’s vibrant work landscape.
It is run in collaboration with the College of Medicine and has been undertaken by several large global organisations, including One NHS Finance, Bupa and BMJ Publishing. Roots has the potential to grow and, if that’s in NHS institutions, we’d be delighted to explore that.
However, we appreciate that time spent on screens is increasing becoming a concern, particularly for children. Therefore, the race to cerate a technologically-advanced NHS should always have a measured response so it doesn’t’ have an adverse effect on wellbeing.
Simply ensuring systems and processes are easier to use for staff (and therefore more effective for service users) is a must and will foster a more productive and interactive environment for staff. In turn, this could well boost wellbeing.
From sickness to prevention
“We’ll reach patients earlier and make the healthy choice the easy choice”
Those are the words of the plan’s From sickness to prevention section.
Our PACC (Physical Activity Clinical Champions) programme supports healthcare professionals to empower patients to move more. We see this as a key part of prevention rather than cure and agree with the plan in so far that earlier identification and management of conditions will ease the strain on the NHS.
People with long term conditions are twice as likely to be amongst the least active so our PACC programme will go towards moving from sickness to prevention by community-based practitioners to have more effective conversations around physical activity with their patients.
Intelligent Health and the plan
Our mission statement is for people to be active to improve the health and happiness of our communities.
We work with a multitude of partners across multiple sectors in our aim to transform health. We recognise that behaviour change will result in an NHS that is fit for the future.
We welcome the changes outlined in the government’s 10-year-plan, especially the Neighbourhood Health Service and the From sickness to prevention aspects, which go hand-in-hand with Beat the Street and PACC.
The plan states that “The ambition is to use a plurality of providers – from within the NHS, the voluntary sector, the independent sector and social enterprise.
At Intelligent Health, we are committed to working in partnership with organisations, policymakers, and communities to bring this plan to life.
To find out more, and to discuss anything with us further, please email communications@intelligenthealth.co.uk
