Let’s make Bracknell Forest’s voice heard on future of NHS – Peter Swallow MP calls on local people to shape NHS future as government launches national conversation

Labour’s Peter Swallowis calling on local people in Bracknell Forestto play their part in shaping the future of our health service as Ministers begin the biggest ever national conversation about the future of the NHS. The entire country is being called upon to share their experiences of our health service and help shape the government’s 10 Year Health Plan.

• Public, clinicians and experts urged to submit ideas for its future as new online platform Change.NHS.uk goes live today – putting staff and patients in driving seat of reform
• Responses will shape government’s 10 Year Health Plan to fix broken health service and deliver government mission to build an NHS fit for the future

Labour’s Peter Swallow said,

This is our chance to ensure that we have an NHS fit for the future – an NHS that is there when people in Bracknell Forest need it.

We all know our health service is in trouble – waiting lists are too long and frankly all too often local people haven’t received the quality of care they need, when they need it. The Conservatives ran our NHS into the ground; after 14 years of Tory rule our NHS is broken.

Labour is determined to change that. And we don’t just want it to be like it was before. We want to modernise our health service with three big shifts – from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention – to deliver a health service we can be really proud of.

So don’t miss your chance to ensure that future of our health service works for you – log on, have your say, and help get our NHS back on its feet.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

My mum worked for the NHS, my sister worked for theNHS and my wife still works for the NHS – so I know first-hand how difficult it has been for staff, and for patients battling against a broken system for over a decade. But it’s time to roll up our sleeves and fix it.

We have a clear plan to fix the health service, but it’s only right that we hear from the people who rely on the NHS every day to have their say and shape our plan as we deliver it. Together we can build a healthcare system that puts patients first and delivers the care that everyone deserves.

We have a huge opportunity to put the NHS back on its feet. So, let’s be the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis inits history and made it fit for the future.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, the NHS saved my life, as it has for so many people across our country. We all owe theNHS a debt of gratitude for a moment in our lives when it was there for us, when we needed it. Now we have a chance to repay that debt.

Today the NHS is going through the worst crisis inits history. But while the NHS is broken, it’s not beaten. Together, we can fix it.

Whether you use the NHS or work in it, you see first-hand what’s great, but also what isn’t working. We need your ideas to help turn the NHS around.

In order to save the things we love about the NHS, we need to change it. Our 10 Year Health Plan will transform the NHS to make it fit for the future, and it will have patients’ and staff’s fingerprints allover it.

I urge everyone to goto Change. NHS.uk today and help us build a health service fit for the future.

Investment alone won’t be enough to tackle the problems facing the NHS, why is why it must go hand in hand with fundamental reform.

The three big shifts will be our key principles for reform and will revolutionise the way people manage their health and access care. Our reforms will also shift the NHS away from late diagnosis and treatment to a model where more services are delivered in local communities and illnesses are prevented in the first place.

It is vital the government hears from patients, experts and the NHS workforce to make sure we get this right and preserve the things people value about the health service.

The public engagement exercise will help shape the government’s 10 Year Health Plan which will be published in spring 2025 and will be underlined by three big shifts in healthcare – hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.

As part of the first shift “from hospital to community”, the government wants to deliver plans for new neighbourhood health centres, which will be closer to homes and communities. Patients will be able to see family doctors, district nurses, care workers, physiotherapists, health visitors, or mental health specialists, all under the same roof.

In transforming the NHS from analogue to digital, the government will create a more modern NHS by bringing together a single patient record, summarising patient health information, test results, and letters in one place, through the NHS App. It will put patients in control of their own medical history, meaning they don’t have to repeat it at every appointment, and that staff have the full picture of patients’ health. New laws are set to be introduced to make NHS patient health records available across all NHS trusts,GP surgeries and ambulance services in England – speeding up patient care, reducing repeat medical tests, and minimising medication errors.

Systems will be able to share data more easily, saving NHS staff an estimated 140,000 hours of NHS staffs’ time every year, because staff will have quicker access to patient data, saving time that can then be spent face-to-face with patients who need it most and potentially saving lives.

By moving from sickness to prevention, government wants to shorten the amount of time people spend in-ill health and prevent illnesses before they happen. As an example, the 10 Year Health Plan will explore the opportunities smart watches and other wearable tech may offer patients with diabetes or high blood pressure, so they can monitor their own health from the comfort of their own home.