A new NHS plan has been launched in a bid to save at least 500,000 lives over the next decade.
The NHS plan involves greater use of high-tech treatments and diagnostic testing and could prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases.
It will also tackle head on the pressures faced by health staff.
More than three million people will benefit from improved stroke, respiratory and cardiac services over the next decade.
About 23,000 premature deaths could be prevented by putting 100,000 people with heart complaints through a healthy living and exercise programme every year.
And the plans aim to ensure three-quarters of cancers are diagnosed early, when they can be treated more successfully, up from half at present.
As part of the drive to use new technology to help treat and prevent conditions:
Advertisement
Advertisement
- The NHS will become the first health service in the world to offer whole genome sequencing for children with cancer to help target treatment specifically at their needs.
- There will be genetic testing for about 30,000 people with dangerously high inherited cholesterol.
- Pilot schemes will see smart inhalers given to respiratory patients to monitor their condition.
- Cutting-edge scans and the potential use of artificial intelligence to improve stroke care.
- Patients will be able to access health care at the touch of the button through a digital front door to the NHS.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the 10-year plan would provide the best possible care for every major condition, from cradle to grave, using the £20.5 billion a year funding boost promised by 2023/24.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: Whether its treating ever more people in their communities, using the latest technology to tackle preventable diseases, or giving every baby the very best start in life – this Government has given the NHS the multi-billion pound investment needed to nurture and safeguard our nations health service for generations to come.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said the NHS needed to ensure care was provided efficiently.
Writing in the Daily Mail, he said: The public hates waste in the NHS and quite rightly want to know that their taxes are spent effectively, to deliver excellent front-line services to patients.
Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said: The Tories have spent nine years running down the NHS, imposing the biggest cash squeeze in its history and now need 10 years to clear up the mess they have made.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Under the plan there will be a £4.5 billion boost for primary and community care, and investment in mental health services will rise to at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24.
Victim may be forced to see stalker so he can visit their son
About two million more people who suffer anxiety, depression or other problems will receive help over the next decade.
Mr Stevens said the plan keeps all thats good about our health service and its place in our national life. It tackles head on the pressures our staff face.
And it sets a practical, costed, phased route map for the NHSs priorities for care quality and outcomes improvement for the decade ahead.
The plan was welcomed by campaigners, but experts warned that implementing it would be difficult.
Kay Boycott, chief executive of Asthma UK, said smart inhalers were game-changing devices that track how often and well people are taking their asthma medication so that those most at risk of asthma attacks can be identified and helped before they need hospital treatment.
Stroke Association chief executive Juliet Bouverie said the plan makes tackling stroke a national priority, adding: We know this plan can and will ensure that more lives are saved and more people spared from serious disability.
But Nigel Edwards from health think tank the Nuffield Trust said that while the plans aims were right there are several big pitfalls ahead, with the extra funding still below what experts thought was needed and a lack of key staff presenting the biggest obstacle of all.
Advertisement
NHS Confederation chief executive Niall Dickson said: We very much welcome the increased funding for the NHS and the vision to strengthen and improve services.
But the plan cannot escape the harsh reality that the NHS will still face tough decisions on what it can and cannot do.
Local Government Association spokesman Ian Hudspeth said the plans goals could only be fully realised if councils were properly funded to deliver social care and public health services.
To help the NHS make its extra funding go further and alleviate the pressures on the health service, it is essential that the Government plugs the £3.6 billion funding gap facing adult social care by 2025 and reverses the £600 million in reductions to councils public health grants, he said.
Advertisement
Advertisement
[contf]
[contfnew]
METRO
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
