NHS plan must not become unachievable 'wishlist', PM warned as government promotes health service plan

Ministers have been warned not to think of the NHS long-term plan as a “wish list” of new targets and priorities which could be unachievable and further demoralise stretched staff.

In advance of NHS England releasing its long-term plan the Prime Minister and her senior ministers said the plan would improve treatment of conditions like mental health and cancer, and keep patients healthy and at home.

The priorities were welcomed as good aspirations, but health bosses said ministers must not underestimate how far the NHS has “fallen behind” after eight years of austerity.

“It’s not about creating a wish list of a load of things we all want to see,” Chris Hopson, director of NHS Providers which represents hospitals and ambulance services, told Sky News. “It’s about putting forward a ruthlessly prioritised set of priorities that we know we can deliver because we’ve for the staff."

He added: “What [staff will] be nervous about is politicians making a whole bunch of promises that can’t be delivered."

There was little detail on measures of success in transforming these areas, as the Treasury has reportedly been trying to win in return for the £20.5bn investment in the health service by 2021.

More depth is expected in the final report due this week, but the government said it will include access standards for mental health, to bring it in line with waiting time measures in A&Es and cancer.

This will be backed by £2.3bn to fund counselling for 350,000 more children and 380,000 adults over the next five years.

There will also be £4.5bn a year spent on GP and out of hospital care by 2023, an increase from the £3.5bn announced before Christmas and dismissed as too little by experts.

Health and social care secretary Matt Hancock stressed the ambition to refocus NHS services on out of hospital care.

“The whole purpose of the NHS over the next 10 years needs to shift towards helping people to stay healthy, as much as curing them when they’re ill,” he told Sky News Sophie Ridge, adding that a key part will be making the public take responsibility for their own health.

This will be delivered in part through using technology to target health messages at smokers, heavy drinkers and other unhealthy behaviours creating costs for the health service, he said.

But when pressed on how the government intended to resolve the issue of more than 100,000 GP and nurse vacancies across the NHS and growing pressure on social car – which are adding to the NHS woes – he said these would be covered in detail in separate plans due later in 2019.

Mr Hancock said the government would train, recruit and retain more staff, and will tackle the use of locum staff who do not want full time contracts: “Let’s take the nurses figure, 41,000 vacancies, 30,000 are currently filled by people working through agencies rather than full time.

“That can be fixed,” he said.

On the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show Theresa May was also asked about how she could deliver on preventative care and social care reform while cutting budgets for smoking and obesity services and after delaying social care reforms.

“You’re saying there’s only one way you can address a particular issue,” the prime minister said. “That is never the case”.

Labour's shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said: "Almost nine years of austerity, cuts and privatisation has meant millions waiting longer for treatment or stranded - often on trolleys - in crowded A&Es. And now the Tories say they need 10 years to clear up the mess they have made. The NHS needs a credible fully funded plan for the future, not a wish list to help Theresa May get through the coming months."