Labour’s 10-Year NHS Plan Explained: 10 Major Changes You Should Know

Labour has set out an exciting 10 year plan to modernise and rejuvenate the NHS. The plan prioritises prevention, digital innovation and delivering care closer to home. Here are the 10 major changes you need to aware of:

Digital NHS App as a Patient Hub

The NHS app will change to become a “doctor in your pocket” through AI inflected tools such as My NHS GP. Patients will book appointments, manage prescriptions, self-triage need for urgent care, enrol in trials and track vaccinations. This will eliminate the “8am GP rush”.

Integrated Digital Patient Records

New legislation will require that all health and care data is stored in one “single patient record” by 2028 where patients and carers can access it seamlessly through the NHS app. All of which will improve efficiency and transparency.

Growth of AI, Wearables & Robotics

AI will help doctors with admin and diagnostics. Free wearables will be available in deprived areas from 2026 and surgical robots will begin to be available from 2026.

Personal Health Budgets for Everyone

With 180,000 people currently benefiting from personal health budgets, the offer will expand to 1 million people by 2030 and universally offered by 2035, creating completely patient-led care.

Self-Referral for Primary Care

Patients will soon be able to self-refer, cutting out their GP for accessing services like hearing tests, mental health therapy and back pain; giving clinical time back to the system. 

The Digital Red Book for Children

The paper-based red book used to track child health will transition to a digital alternative. Parents will be able to track milestones, health advice, feeding and sleep patterns on the NHS app.

Dedicated Mental Health A&E Units

GBP 120 million will support 85 specialist mental health emergency departments and extended school mental health teams.

Obesity: NHS Workforce Expansion

Access to weight loss injections will be increased, junk food advertisements limited and thousands more staff and GPs will be trained effectively; they will limit overseas supply of doctors to 10% by 2035.

New Primary Care Clinics

Up to 300 health hubs will provide “one-stop shopping” for GP, physio, mental health and more, which are open 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, making primary care more variably available and reducing reliance on hospitals.

Restoring Treatment Targets and Ending Corridor Care

Labour has claimed it will end “corridor care” and restore the 18 week treatment target for all referred patients.