Why are changes needed?

The way that health and care is provided has dramatically improved in recent years but, at the same time, our healthcare services are under greater pressure than ever.

In response to these pressures NHS England has produced a guide to the future of healthcare. The Five Year Forward View highlights a number of issues:

• The quality of care that people receive can vary
• That preventable illness is common
• The growing demands on the NHS has led to financial pressure on local organisations.

Transforming care

Both regionally and nationally, healthcare organisations, clinical staff and patients agree that the way we deliver services has to change.

Although we are conscious of financial pressure in the health service, we are confident that change will not mean a reduction in either the number of services or the quality of care. Instead we are looking at a new model of care, a model that places a greater focus on preventative care.  We want to join up our services and reduce duplication and we’d like to give our population more choice and control.

We also want to respond to patients needs by bringing a wider range of healthcare provision into community based settings, making routine services easily accessible and at the same time enabling hospitals to focus more closely on emergency and specialist treatment.