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A new 10-year NHS plan will “fundamentally rewire” the health service and put care on people’s doorsteps, the Prime Minister has said.

Sir Keir Starmer will use a speech in London on Thursday to unveil his vision for the NHS, which will focus on “three big shifts” in the way the health service operates.

The plan, titled Plan for Change, will be published by the government today. It sets out how the NHS will move from analogue to digital, treatment to prevention, and from hospital to more community care.

Care to Shift Closer to Home

The “status quo of hospital by default will end”, according to the government, with care shifted into neighbourhoods and people’s homes.

By 2035, most outpatient care — including services for eye care, cardiology, respiratory medicine, and mental health — is expected to take place outside hospitals.

New neighbourhood health services will be rolled out across the country to bring tests, post-op care, nursing, and mental health teams closer to people’s homes. The aim is to give people access to a full range of services, leaving hospitals to focus on the sickest, with neighbourhood health centres opening at evenings and weekends.

These will be staffed by teams including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative care staff, and paramedics.

New services will also include debt advice, employment support and stop smoking or obesity services – all of which affect people’s health.

Community outreach, with people going door to door, could also reduce pressure on GPs and A&E, the government said.

The plans also outline training for thousands more GPs, as the government pledges to “bring back the family doctor” and end the “8 am scramble” to get an appointment.

‘Reform or Die’, Says Prime Minister

Starmer said: “The NHS should be there for everyone, whenever they need it. But we inherited a health system in crisis, addicted to a sticking plaster approach, and unable to face up to the challenges we face now, let alone in the future.

“That ends now. Because it’s reform or die. 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.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said the plan would deliver “one of the most fundamental changes in the way we receive our healthcare in history”.

Boost to GP Access and Dental Reform

In a bid to free up time, GPs will be encouraged to use artificial intelligence to take notes, while technology will be used to speed up the answering of calls to surgeries. Dental therapists, who tend to carry out some of the straightforward work of dentists, could undertake check-ups, treatment, and referrals, according to the plan.

And there will be a new requirement for newly-qualified dentists to practise in the NHS for a minimum period, intended to be 3 years, according to the government.

Ministers also want to improve access to dental care for children, such as by allowing dental nurses to give fluoride varnish to children in between check-ups.

Nursing and Workforce Concerns

Royal College of Nursing general secretary, Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “Moving care away from overcrowded hospitals is urgent and necessary but it will prove impossible whilst this part of the healthcare workforce is so depleted and undervalued. Crucial teams of district nursing and health visiting staff, who keep patients well and safe at home, have fallen by thousands in the last decade or more.”

Thea Stein, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, said: “This approach is essential if we want to end the disjointed ways of working that too often leave patients to do the time-consuming and often bewildering job of joining up their own care.”

However, she added that a lack of detail on how it will all work “casts doubt on whether it will stick”.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of the King’s Fund, said: “As the Government publishes its 10-year plan for health today, what patients, the public and those working in the NHS will want to know is, why it will be different this time, and how soon it will lead to improvements? When will it mean people can see a GP more easily, or get mental health support for their child, or not wait hours in A&E?

The government’s political opponents were sceptical about the plan, with Conservative shadow health secretary Edward Argar insisting that it must provide reform and “that reform must be real, it needs to be deliverable, and crucially it must deliver results for patients”.

He added: “But after the collapse of their Welfare Bill, the government’s tough talk seems meaningless. This government has proven they cannot stand up to their own MPs or take tough decisions in the national interest.”