Government launches 10 Year Plan for the NHS

The government has published its long-awaited 10 Year Plan for the NHS, setting out how it plans to reform the health service over the next decade.

Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said:

“The 10 Year Plan comes at a crucial and pivotal moment for the NHS, and we hope it will help ensure preventative and timely mental health support close to home. We support the government’s decisive moves toward a neighbourhood health approach. With mental health at its core, this will be key in delivering the shift from hospital to community and related ambitions such as Mental Health Act reform. Big changes to the way we use technology in care, such as the opportunity to take part in clinical research and manage appointments and medication through the NHS App, will benefit many people living with mental illness.  

“However, we can’t lose sight of the fact that people experiencing mental illness are facing lengthy and devastating waits for treatment right now. The government has excluded mental health services from the drive to ‘get the basics right’ and reduce NHS waiting lists, which would have protected lives and helped people recover and return to work where appropriate. In conversations about the future of our health service, more detail is urgently needed on how mental health waiting lists will be tackled. 

“The 10 Year Plan is ambitious, but attention now turns to how change will be delivered, such as through the transformation of mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood care models, and the welcome return of service frameworks. We look forward to working with government to ensure that this plan delivers the care that people experiencing mental illness need and deserve.”