Shaping the 10-year NHS Health Plan 

20 November 2024

A blog by Peter Foxton, CEO of National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, regarding the Government’s call to action for shaping the 10-year NHS Health Plan.

When I started at NRAS back in July 2024, the UK had recently elected Sir Keir Starmer to be Prime Minister with an overwhelming majority. In its first days, the Government acknowledged the many problems being faced within the NHS. Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, went so far as to say that the NHS was “broken” and that work to turn the health service around would take time. His first action was to ask for a full-scale independent review of the NHS.  

Lord Darzi, a member of the House of Lords and a consultant surgeon, was asked to lead this independent review of the NHS. This was completed by 12 September 2024 and was a rapid review of the health service’s vital signs and main problems. It came as no surprise to me that Lord Darzi recognised that the NHS is in a “critical condition” and highlighted that the question was not whether we can afford the NHS but rather “we cannot afford not to have the NHS”. 

I reflected at the time that for people living with RA, JIA and their families that the NHS is their lifeline. Our mission as a charity and patient organisation has always been to support those living with RA and JIA to live life to the fullest. We are committed to working with the NHS, and the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that the voice of those living with inflammatory arthritis is heard.  

The government accepted that work would need to be done to fix the NHS but that the answer was not simply more funding. In many of the talks and meetings that I have attended in my first few months as CEO of NRAS, it was confirmed that the answer was not funding in isolation but reform. The quote “no funding without reform” was used on many occasions.  

This statement is welcomed by many of those living with long term health conditions like RA who know that the system does not always work for them. I have heard from many people living with RA and JIA about the struggles that they face to access the care and support that they need to live their lives. The government confirmed that they would be creating a 10-Year Health Plan which would look at widescale reform and address many of the issues raised in Lord Darzi’s report.  

As part of the development of the 10-year health plan, Wes Streeting called for the entire nation to help shape the government’s plans to overhaul the NHS. In October I attended a partner engagement event of this consultation which included the  launch of Change NHS, an online platform where everyone can feed in their opinions, experiences and ideas.  

The portal is available to the public, health and care staff and experts. Everyone is invited to complete an online questionnaire and feed in comments on the three main areas identified as priorities: 

  • Sickness to Prevention
  • Hospital to Community
  • Analogue to Digital

As the national patient organisation with a specific focus on supporting people with RA and JIA, we know the struggles that are being faced by those living with these complex diseases and believe that these three pillars are key building blocks to improving access to services and better care across the lifetime of our beneficiaries.  

I have been involved in our organisational response, and we have highlighted the difficulties being faced and what people want and need: 

  • Better, more timely access to GPs
  • Speedy referrals to Rheumatology consultants for diagnosis
  • Ensuring access to support when needed, e.g. managing flares, medication issues
  • Periodic review and measurement of your disease and other co-existing conditions
  • ability to digitally record and share symptoms, periods of flare and other relevant data

I would urge you to provide your own views and experiences as it is important that as many people as possible input to the consultation to highlight the challenges faced by people living with these complex diseases, and to ensure the Government understands what makes a difference to the care you receive. 

It is also important that we highlight the need for more attention to be paid to Musculoskeletal conditions in general so that this area is recognised as a major condition in health planning, which in turn will lead to improved access to care for people with RA and JIA.  

As a patient organisation, we will keep you updated about how we are feeding into the plan as well as the outcome of the plan next year.  

Thank you for your time to read this and your continued support of NRAS.  

Peter Foxton

Change: NHS. Help build a health service fit for the future banner. Get involved now at change.nhs.uk