Q members reflect on the NHS 10-Year Health Plan for England: Andrea Gibbons

The NHS 10-Year Health Plan for England has laid out ambitions for three shifts: from care delivered in hospitals to in communities, from a focus on treatment to prevention and from analogue to digital.

In the spirit of collaboration and learning, we asked members to share what they found exciting about the plan, what is missing and where they think improvement approaches can play a role. 

For the next week, we will be sharing reflections from members across England on the plan and the culture and conditions needed for its implementation. Our diverse community of people working to improve health and care is uniquely placed to make a real difference to the success of its implementation. These reflections can help us all take stock of where we are and think together about how to get where we need to go.

Having read the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, I was encouraged by its focus on shifting care closer to home, using technology more effectively and investing in prevention. These priorities feel not only right but essential — and long overdue. They reflect what many of us working in and alongside health and care have been calling for: more joined-up, person-centred and proactive approaches to care.

What stood out most to me, though, was the commitment to putting more power in the hands of patients, carers and front-line staff. That’s a shift I really welcome, and it strongly echoes what we’ve been hearing through the 100 Voices project. People want to feel listened to and trusted. They want meaningful opportunities to lead change — not in spite of the system but with its full support.

The insights gathered through 100 Voices suggest that staff, patients and carers often already know what needs to change. The challenge isn’t a lack of ideas but a lack of space, capability and support to act on them. That’s why the focus on implementation feels so critical. If the ambitions in the plan are to be realised, we need to invest just as much in the how as the what — particularly in creating the right conditions for people to test, adapt and scale what works.

Improvement, at its heart, is about relationships. Tools and structures matter, but it’s trust, shared purpose and ongoing collaboration that enable lasting change. That’s why networks like Q — and others across health and care — have such an important role to play. They help bridge boundaries, spread ideas and create the energy and collective momentum that effective and sustainable improvement depends on.

So for me, the plan is encouraging. But what happens next is crucial — especially how we support people on the ground to make change happen, and how we work together to build a system that enables improvement to thrive.