1. How will the NHS Long Term Plan work in our community?
Healthwatch X and [insert STP area name]
February 2019

2. What is the NHS Long Term Plan?
The NHS has set out its plans to improve health and social care over the next ten years. To support this, the Government has invested an extra £20 billion per year. Your local NHS needs to hear from you about what those changes should look like in your community.

3. What changes do the NHS want to make?
Reduce pressure on emergency care
Give people more control of their care
More personalised care
Better care out of hospital
Digital primary and outpatient care
Tackling prevention and health inequalities
Stronger start for children
Better care for major health conditions
Support for NHS staff
Reduce pressure on emergency care
Give people more control of their care
More personalised care
Better care out of hospital
Digital primary and outpatient care will go mainstream across the NHS
Tackling prevention and health inequalities. For example, smoking, obesity, alcohol, air pollution, antimicrobial resistance
Stronger start for children Including better support for maternity and neonatal, mental health, learning disabilities and autism and cancer. There will also be a focus on redesigning services.
Better care for major health conditions, including: cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke care, diabetes, respiratory disease, adult mental health, short waits for planned care, research and innovation to boost outcomes.
Support for NHS staff – NHS staff will get the backing they need.

4. Cancer services

5. How does the NHS plan to improve cancer services?
Better screening services
Faster diagnostic standards
Investment in technology for faster and safer testing
Treatment innovation
Access to personalised care
Follow-up care that suits people’s needs
Tracking long-term impact of cancer
Better screening services Screening services will be improved to detect cancer earlier. Especially for bowel and cervical cancer screening and lung health checks.
Faster diagnostic standards Rapid diagnostic centres will be rolled out across the country to support a faster diagnostic standard. This will ensure most patients can rule out cancer within 28 days of referral from a GP or screening centre.
Investment in technology for faster and safer testing More investment in technology will deliver faster and safer testing
Treatment innovation New technology and techniques will be introduced more widely to reduce variation in care. Innovation in treatment will speed up and become normal practice.
Access to personalised care By 2021, where appropriate, everyone diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care. This will help improve wider health and wellbeing.
Follow-up care that suits people’s needs Patients will be able to access follow-up pathways that suit their needs
Tracking long-term impact of cancer A quality of life metric will be introduced to track the long-term impact of cancer.

6. Lung and heart services

7. How does the NHS plan to improve lung and heart services?
Improve early detection of heart and lung conditions
Better cardiac rehabilitation
Specialist centres to deliver stroke services
Work with voluntary organisations to improve care
Improve rehabilitation
Introduction of digital self-management tools
Medication reviews so people get the right treatment
Better risk assessment processes
Education and exercise will be a key part of rehabilitation programmes
Improve early detection using primary care networks Primary care networks will work together to improve early detection of heart related conditions, offering appropriate preventative treatment in a timely way. Variation on spirometry testing will also be reduced to help improve detection and early diagnosis of lung conditions.
Better cardiac rehabilitation Improved access and take up of cardiac rehabilitation.
Specialist centres to deliver stroke services Specialist centres will deliver stroke services, supported by Integrated Stroke Delivery Networks (ISDNs)
Work with voluntary organisations to improve care NHS will work with voluntary organisations to deliver integrated and intensive rehabilitation services. This will improve health outcomes for stroke patients.
Improve rehabilitation Rehabilitation for pulmonary conditions will be improved and expanded.
Introduction of digital self-management tools will also support rehabilitation.
Medication reviews so people get the right treatment Medication reviews will help to ensure that people are being prescribed the right treatment.
Better risk assessment processes Improved risk assessment processes will be introduced to help reduce the number of acute pneumonia admissions to hospitals, with support from nurses in the community
Education and exercise will be a central part of rehabilitation programmes.

8. Mental health services

9. How does the NHS plan to improve mental health services?
Improve mental health services for children, young people and adults
Increased investment of at least £2.3 billion by 2023/24
Better systems through a single point of access
24/7 support with response from NHS111 and emergency services
Extra investment in services for young people
Mental health in schools
Reduce issues for children transitioning to adult services
Waiting time standards for emergency mental health
Redesign and personalise community mental health
Overall the NHS Long Term Plan sets out a commitment to improve mental health services for children, young people and adults. This is supported by an increased investment by at least £2.3billion in real terms by 2023/24.
It aims to create a more comprehensive service system (particularly for people experiencing a mental health crisis) through a single-point of access.
This should also be achieved through 24/7 support with appropriate responses from services, including NHS 111 and emergency services.
It increases the investment in services for young people with initiatives such as mental health support teams in schools. It also builds upon the offer for children and young people aged up to 25 years, to reduce issues around service transitions.
The plan sets out new waiting time standards for emergency mental health services to be implemented by 2020.
There will be a significant redesign and personalisation of community mental health services, including re-establishing substance misuse support within the existing provision.

10. Healthy ageing

11. How does the NHS plan to support healthy ageing?
Ensure undiagnosed conditions are diagnosed and treated early
Services will work together to help people stay independent
Primary care networks will include professionals from different services
Improve monitoring equipment at home to prevent hospital readmissions
Increase support for care home residents
Greater recognition and help for carers
Improve support for people with dementia
Better advice and information
A population health management approach will ensure that undiagnosed conditions are diagnosed and treated early. This will be driven by newly established Primary Care Networks
Integrated primary and community care hubs will work together to help people stay independent, targeting support for physical and mental health needs.
Primary Care Networks will include: GPs, pharmacists, district nurses, community geriatricians, dementia workers, Allied Health Professionals such as physios and podiatrists/chiropodists and social care and voluntary sector organisations.
Monitoring equipment at home will be developed to prevent unnecessary hospital readmissions.
Increased support for care homes residents will prevent avoidable hospital admissions.
There will be greater recognition and support for carers. Carer’s individual needs will be addressed to improve their health outcomes.
Support for people with dementia will be improved within communities. For example, by raising awareness, improving ways to diagnose dementia through research investment, and better community health and care teams.
The NHS will work with local organisations to improve advice and information, particularly for people diagnosed with dementia.

12. Children and young people’s health

13. How does the NHS plan to support children and young people’s health?
Improve community support for children
Introduce clinical networks to improve the quality of care for children with long term conditions
Introduce paediatric networks for care close to home
Better support for young carers
Timely support for young people with autism or a learning disability and their families
Investment in mental health support
Better mental health support in schools and colleges
Links with universities to improve student mental health
Holistic support for children (including oral health) will be available in the community to reduce the number of unnecessary hospital admissions.
Clinical networks will be rolled out to improve the quality of care for children with long term conditions, such as asthma and epilepsy.
Paediatric networks will be introduced to ensure that children get the care they need as close to home as possible.
Young carers will be given better support, such as access to preventative health and social prescribing.
More timely support will be given to children, young people who have a learning disability and/or autism, and their families.
Investment in mental health services for young people and children will be accelerated. There will be wider community-based mental health services, eating disorder services, as well as access to age-appropriate crisis services, and community follow up support.
Mental Health Support Teams will be funded to set up mental health support services within schools and colleges.
The NHS will work with universities to ensure that access to mental health services is improved for students.