Millions of patients in the North West will be treated and cared for closer to their home by new teams of health professionals, as set out in the 10 Year Health Plan published today.

The plan sets out how Neighbourhood Health Services will be launched to improve access to the NHS as part of the aim to shift more care into the community, reducing pressure on hospitals. Neighbourhood teams will include staff like nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, health visitors, palliative care staff, and paramedics.

The focus on community is one of three key shifts that are seen as needed to get the NHS back on its feet, alongside a greater emphasis on prevention and increasing use of digital tools, and help stop rising waiting lists, deliver more convenient care and tackle inequalities across the country.

Dr Paula Cowan, Regional Medical Director for Primary Care for NHS England in the North West, said: “The 10 Year Plan provides an exciting opportunity to build on some of the innovative work already happening across the North West to deliver more NHS services closer to where people live, offering quicker and more convenient care and improving patients’ experience and outcomes.

“We know we have many health challenges and inequalities in the North West and the renewed focus on prevention described in the plan reinforces the work NHS organisations across the region, working with partners, to keep more patients healthy for longer and out of hospital.”

Across the North West, NHS organisations are already working with wider partners to deliver initiatives to transform services and patient experience, moving more services into the community, working to prevent ill health and using the very latest digital technology to improve access, diagnostics and treatment.

Examples include:

• Work is happening across the North West to tackle preventable cardiovascular disease (CVD – damage to arteries in organs like the brain, heart and kidneys) through blood pressure checks, workplace NHS health checks and cholesterol tests. This has included:
• staff at British Aerospace’s Barrow-in-Furness site being offered home cholesterol tests through a sceheme delivered by primary care provider Cumbria Health, Westmorland and Furness Council, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board and platform supplier PocDoc, which identified more than 700 people who were at risk, 70% of whom had never been tested before.
• A pilot project by NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria offering free blood pressure checks through Lucky 13 Barbership in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, to identify undiagnosed and untreated hypertension, which has so far carried out more than 200 checks and identified 31 people who needed further investigation.
• The Greater Manchester Smokefree Pregnancy programme has supported more than 10,000 pregnant women and their partners to quit smoking and brought smoking during pregnancy down to an all time low in the area, helping to improve health and wellbeing and save babies lives. Similar programmes are now being rolled out around the country.
• The Living Well Hub in Warrington is taking services into the community that would have previously been offered in a hospital setting. The service, which is the first of its kind in the country, offres services provided by NHS, local authority and voluntary sector partners, including midwifery appointments offered alongside community services like infant feeding and health visitors.
• Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust uses immersive virtual reality( VR) technology to transform the lives of patients with mental health difficulties. The gameChange VR therapy, which presents virtual versions of everyday situations, aims to help people aged 16+ with psychosis and agoraphobia to feel less anxious about going out. It is being piloted by community mental health teams and psychosis teams across three areas of Greater Manchester – Bolton, Salford, Trafford and Manchester. It has a favourable NICE Early Value Assessment for use in front line services and could potentially be used more widely in other parts of the country in the future. More than 40 people have been treated so far and reported outcomes have included increases in confidence, greater ability to leave the house alone, enjoying walking in the park, able to go shopping alone and less afraid or worried that others may be out to harm them.
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has introduced a range of integrated services and initiatives that support patients in their own home, working with partners such as local authorities and GPs as well as the voluntary sector. The trust’s 24/7 Intensive Home Support Service team responded to more than 10,000 urgent community responses during 2024/5, providing swift, home-based assessments and wrap around care, including interventions that would otherwise be provided in an inpatient setting, helping to prevent unnecessary admissions.
• Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Mental Health Support Teams in schools have released new interactive workbooks designed to help young people, parents and education staff learn new ways to improve their mental health and wellbeing. The workbooks are available for download on Mersey Care’s website and can be used by any school across the region.
• Hospital trusts across Greater Manchester are using new AI (artificial intelligence) technology that will help doctors to detect diseases, including lung cancer, and relay the information in as little as under a minute. It will see an AI-powered chest X-ray decision-support system used to read chest X-rays, with the tool able to detect up to 124 findings on chest radiographs. The need to detect cancer more quickly is particularly urgent in Greater Manchester, where lung cancer rates sit at 24% above the national average and life expectancy is lower than in England as a whole.
• The Living Well Bus, delivered by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, takes routine immunisations, health checks, cervical screening and wider well being guidance out into the heart of communities. The service makes it easier for people to access vital health services closer to where they live and helps to prevent ill health through vaccination and early detection of health conditions.

With the 10 Year Health plan, the majority of outpatient care will happen outside of hospitals by 2035, by transforming care in the community. New digital tools will allow GPs to refer patients quicker, and a wider range of services available on people’s doorsteps will mean less need to attend appointments in hospital for ophthalmology, cardiology, respiratory medicine, and mental health.

As a result of this shift to community, hospitals will be able to focus on patients who need hospital care, and get them seen on time again.  Waiting lists are at their lowest level in two years, including the first drop in April for 17 years. An extra 4.2million appointments have been delivered since July – over double the government’s target.

Find out more about the 10 Year Health Plan at: 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future – GOV.UK