Infographic: Building the health of the nation
Five priorities for a new government.
The NHS remains one of the UK’s most valued institutions and its staff are among the most trusted. But a decade of underinvestment – compounded by the impact of the pandemic, rising demand and an ageing population – has left NHS and social care services under extreme pressure. To ensure the health and care system is placed on a sustainable footing, the next government should prioritise five key areas:
- Avoid top-down structural reform in England for the next parliament. Commit to a short-term stabilisation plan during the first 12 months of parliament to help get performance in the English NHS back on track.
- Increase NHS capital spending across the UK and reform how the capital regime operates.
- Commit to fund and deliver the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan for England, alongside an equivalent plan for social care.
- Provide more care closer to home by enabling local health systems to proportionately increase investment into primary care and community-based services, mental health and social care.
- Deliver a strategy for national health given that most policy that impacts people’s health is made outside the NHS. The Prime Minister should lead a cross-government national mission for health improvement.
Find out more in our manifesto: Building the health of the nation: priorities for a new government.
