Words or Actions? A Cautious Welcome to the New Health Plan

Blog
Following the release of the Government's 10-Year Health Plan, our CEO Kamran Mallick wrote about the proposals with discernment, underlining how any new ideas must come with adequate funding, whilst addressing of current backlogs.

Today the government announced its 10-Year Health Plan, promising a 'Neighbourhood Health Service' designed to bring care closer to home. The principles of local, integrated, and preventative care are ones we have heard before. But for Disabled people stuck on waiting lists and battling for basic support, a vision for the future does little to solve the crises of today.

Experience has taught us to be deeply cautious. Grand announcements can often be followed by inadequate funding, insufficient staff  and a failure in execution. While the Government direction is welcome, we have urgent questions about how this plan will be implemented, with necessary engagement with Disabled people and without exacerbating current backlogs.

Will This Plan Address the Crises We Face Now?

Without additional substantial funding, there is a real danger that the move to neighbourhood initiatives will not be properly executed and will at the same time reduce resources to current NHS services.

  • Waiting Lists and 'Business as Usual': The press release celebrates a fall in waiting lists, but this is not the reality for millions. How will creating a new layer of services help the Disabled person who has been waiting two years for a hip replacement, or the person whose health is deteriorating while they wait for essential diagnostics? There is a real danger that funding is spread so thinly that the core "business as usual" of the NHS—including vital elective surgeries—grinds to a halt.
  • Inadequate Mental Health Support: For many Disabled people, the struggle to get any meaningful mental health support is a constant battle.The current system is overwhelmed and underfunded. Will these new neighbourhood centres have the specialist staff and resources to finally address this, or will they simply become another door to a waiting list?
  • A Vision Built on Financial Quicksand: The plan is ambitious, but it appears to be built on financial quicksand. It is not clear if there is any significant new investment to fund it. Without a massive injection of new money, how can the NHS possibly build this new service while simultaneously tackling the waiting list backlog and fixing a broken mental health system?

Old Promises, New Dangers

Beyond the immediate funding and waiting list crises, the plan's success hinges on fixing deep-seated issues that previous governments have failed to solve.

  • Accessibility is Not Optional: We have little confidence in the delivery of accessible services because the NHS consistently fails to meet its existing legal duties. The Accessible Information Standard, for instance, is often overlooked, leaving patients unable to understand their own healthcare. Will these new centres be any different, or will they create new, glossy barriers for Disabled people?
  • The Social Care Chasm: A Neighbourhood Health Service cannot be built on the ruins of our social care system. Without a properly funded and reformed social care sector, this plan is destined to fail. People cannot be supported "in the community" if the community-based support services they rely on for daily living have collapsed. This remains the single most significant, most predictable point of failure for the government's entire strategy.

We want to see a better NHS. We want to see genuine, person-centred care, where Disabled people are believed and coproduce their care plans. So, we need more than a new vision for neighbourhood services, we  need a funded, realistic strategy that addresses how we tackle the immediate crises in health and social care and at the same time, move to a new service offer.