What people want from the next ten years of the NHS

When the NHS Long Term Plan was published in January 2019 we were asked by NHS England to engage people across the country about how people wanted the priorities to be implemented locally. Here's what over 40,000 people told us.

Summary

Between March and June 2019, the Healthwatch network carried out 500 focus groups, attended 1,000 events and engaged tens of thousands of people online to find out what people want from the next ten years of the NHS.

As the NHS focusses on reforming other areas of care, it needs to keep on talking to communities so that everyone gets the good quality care they need.

Sir Robert Francis QC, Chair of Healthwatch England

Key findings

  • People affected by cancer, and heart and lung conditions had a much better experience of care services than people with other issues.
    For example, when asked ‘How would you describe your overall experience of getting help?’, 61% of cancer respondents provided a positive response versus 23% of respondents with dementia.   
  • The positive feedback about cancer and heart and lung services appeared to be for a variety of reasons, including speed of diagnosis and treatment, access to rehabilitation, and quality of information and communication from professionals.
  • People affected by other issues, especially mental ill health, dementia or learning disabilities, told us that the support often wasn’t in place for them and that professionals did not give enough consideration to their full range of needs.

Downloads

We have also produced What Matters Most in Easy Read and Large Print.

If you need this report in a different format, please email enquiries@healthwatch.co.uk or call 03000 68 3000.

Download the report
Download the Easy Read
Download the Large Print

What did people say about the NHS Long Term Plan in your area?

Visit our Reports Library to see find out what people said about the NHS Long Term Plan in different areas of England.

Read our report

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