Imagine a health service that meets you where you live, catches warning signs before they become emergencies and the operation is smooth.
This the vision at the heart of Labour’s new 10-year health plan, a sweeping transformation designed to modernise the NHS from top to toe. Backed by a £29 billion investment, the plan also promises to bridge longstanding health gaps, starting with giving ethnic minority voices a seat at the table, then embedding culturally sensitive practices and targeted outreach.
Asian Voice spoke to Ashley Dalton, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention in the Department of Health and Social Care, about what makes this plan different, and how it aims to deliver tangible change, especially for communities who’ve been left behind.
This isn’t the first time a government has unveiled an ambitious plan for the NHS. What sets this one apart from previous reforms that promised similar shifts but ultimately fell short?
Okay, so this plan is a 10-year plan for health, it’s not just about the NHS. It’s about community services, primary care, secondary care, and prevention. It’s really about changing the entire health ecosystem to improve patient care and deliver better, faster services for communities across England and backed by £29 billion of investment.
We have three key pillars. The first is from hospital to community, bringing care closer to home, creating a neighbourhood health service that speaks to local communities, and allowing people to access care in the way that works best for them.
The second is analogue to digital. Managing healthcare should be as easy as online banking. So, we’ll be expanding the NHS app and using technology across the health system to improve services. This includes giving people better and more accessible data, and helping them manage their own health more effectively.
The third pillar is from sickness to prevention. We’ll work with partners to make the healthy choice the easy choice, supporting individuals to live healthier lives and aiming to prevent illness before it starts.
You mentioned the importance of community care. Asian Voice speaks to the British Asian community regularly, and many feel they’ve been disproportionately affected. How does the ministry plan to rebuild trust, ensure past mistakes aren’t repeated, and close racial health inequalities?
One of the first things that we did, and I think one of the most important aspects of how this plan has been put together, is that we actually made sure those voices were involved from the very beginning. In building this plan, we've had the biggest conversation about health that the country has ever seen, with over a quarter of a million contributions, including from Asian voices. These came from both individuals and organisations, whether specifically around health or representing the Asian community more broadly.
And what we're going to ensure is that wherever we see health inequalities, we will be actively tackling them, whether that’s through community-based healthcare or by making sure that the workforce better reflects the communities it serves. We’re committed to creating a far more diverse workforce and ensuring that healthcare delivery is culturally sensitive.
In terms of managing conditions, we're working with a range of charities to provide personalised support. The goal is to help people from all backgrounds manage their conditions, live their lives fully, and access information and healthcare in a way that makes sense to them.
Similarly, we often hear from British Asian NHS staff feeling undervalued and underrepresented in leadership roles, despite making up a significant part of the workforce. What concrete steps is the government taking to address this imbalance?
Community care and staff in primary care are key, so it's been really important to involve individual voices when it comes to the workforce. We're absolutely clear: there is no room for prejudice, bullying, or harassment in the NHS. It will just not be tolerated. We’re driving improvement by publishing demographic employment data across the NHS. We're also creating 2,000 more nursing apprenticeships and introducing new medical school places targeted at schools with a strong track record of widening participation. Additionally, we're expanding the Graduate Management Trainee Scheme with a focus on diversity. This is to address the issue you've identified, ensuring better representation of people from minority ethnic groups in senior management roles.
You mentioned digital transformation in the NHS. How is that helpful and do you think this shift risks excluding older patients or those who aren’t tech-savvy from accessing the care they need?
We are definitely expanding access through online platforms, including via the app. What that means is that people who are comfortable booking appointments, ordering prescriptions, or accessing test results online will be able to do so. This, in turn, frees up the rest of the system for those who want or need face-to-face conversations with a clinician, such as for discussing their medication, for instance.
It’s important to note that not all older people are excluded from digital access. The key point is that those who prefer to use online services can do so if it works for them, but anyone who wants to see their GP, clinician, or pharmacist face-to-face will absolutely still be able to. It’s an option that frees up in-person consultations for those who truly benefit from them, while helping people like me, who might find it easier to engage through online systems, avoid adding pressure to the system unnecessarily.
