NHS & UK Government Set Radical Course with 10-Year Plan

The findings of Lord Darzi's 2024 investigation into the state of England's National Health Service (NHS) disclose a troubling scenario.

The NHS is described as being in a 'critical condition', with challenges in accessing GP appointments, extending hospital waiting lists, staff demoralisation and lagging cancer research compared to other countries.

To address these issues, a newly-published 10 Year Health Plan for England presents a choice: either make minor adjustments to a failing system or pursue a new direction to reshape the NHS.

"This is a time for radical change – major surgery, not sticking plasters," writes UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the report.

"The measures in this plan are radical and urgent. It won't be easy, but the prize will be worth it. This is a plan that will take the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and renew it so it serves generations to come."

The 'biggest NHS conversation in history'

Over the past eight months, the report's authors have engaged with thousands of staff and public members, while considering 250,000 contributions on the Change.NHS website.

"The conclusion was clear," reads the report. "No one defends the status quo. Staff and patients are crying out for change."

The government proposes a forward-looking care model that substantially reshapes how the NHS achieves its health mission. It integrates core principles of universal access, free care at the point of use, needs-based treatment and public funding.

The NHS aspires to lead in the global genomics arena while becoming the most AI-enabled healthcare system globally.

Central to this transformation is shifting healthcare from hospitals to communities, transitioning from analogue to digital systems and moving from treating illness to preventing it.

To actualise these vast changes, the NHS will undergo structural reforms, such as a new operating model, enhanced transparency measures and a redesigned workforce strategy aligned with reform goals.

The plan extends to a refreshed innovation strategy and a revamped NHS financial approach to support the necessary scale of change.

Procurement technology transformation

The planned transformation encompasses extensive changes to procurement.

The report highlights that the NHS is yet to capitalise on the modern technology available in everyday life.

"This plan will take the NHS from the 20th century technological laggard it is today to the 21st century leader it has the potential to be," says the report.

"To do this, we will use the unique advantages of the NHS’ healthcare model – world-leading data, its power in procurement and its means to deliver equal access – to create the most digitally-accessible health system in the world."

The government's intention is to provide a "doctor in their pocket" experience for patients via the NHS app, alleviating staff from bureaucratic and administrative burdens.

Priorities include streamlining technology procurement and establishing a single national formulary for medicines within two years.

South Korea’s AI-enabled hospitals serve as a model for England to follow, ensuring hospitals can benefit from automation in areas like staff rostering and procurement.

A revolutionary procurement strategy

The NHS is set to transform how it acquires technology and medical equipment, moving away from a decades-long habit of investing in "yesterday's solutions to today's problems" and towards consistently adopting the best-value medicines via a modernised supply chain.

Health leaders admit the current approach has left the NHS technologically outdated, akin to "investing in fixed telephone lines in a world dominated by mobile phones".

The 10 Year Plan identifies the fundamental issue as the NHS treating all purchases as interchangeable commodities where only price matters, contrasting sharply with other industries' strategic technology investments that enhance productivity and customer experience.

Beginning early next year, the NHS plans to introduce standardised value-based procurement guidance for devices and digital products.

Under this new system, productivity-enhancing technologies will be purchased at a national level, then distributed through an internal marketplace designed to benefit both patients and healthcare professionals.

The changes aim to unlock the "extraordinary potential" of the UK's HealthTech and MedTech sectors via an open innovation strategy.

Starting April 2026, the NHS will broaden NICE's technology appraisal process, currently only for medicines, to include certain devices, diagnostics, and digital products.

This marks the first national pathway to prioritise and fund high-impact health technologies beyond pharmaceuticals.

The expanded system will focus on meeting the NHS's most pressing needs while supporting financial sustainability. An example is digital behavioural therapy for adolescents, targeting long waiting lists for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

The initiative promises accelerated commercial support, simplified access to NHS infrastructure for evidence generation, and intensive adoption back-up, addressing "significant unwarranted variation" in technology uptake that has diminished the UK's market appeal to innovators.

"Our aim is to be in the driving seat of the biggest industrial revolution since the 19th century as we harness technology to create a new model of care in the NHS," the report continues.

"We will free up hospitals to prioritise safe deployment of AI and harness new technology to bring the very best of cutting-edge care to all patients. All hospitals will be fully AI-enabled within the lifetime of this plan."