The 10 Year Health Plan for England: what it means for people with Parkinson’s

On 3 July, the government published its long-awaited 10 Year Health Plan for England, which sets out changes to improve NHS services in England.

The 10 Year Plan is based around 3 ‘shifts’ to the way health and care work:

• Moving more care from hospitals to communities.
• Making better use of technology in health and care.
• Focusing on preventing a worsening of illness, as well as treating it.

During consultation, we held a series of workshops to learn what the Parkinson’s community thinks about the 3 shifts and fed their views into the development of the 10 Year Health Plan.

Read more about how we responded to the government's consultation.

This article provides a summary of some of the initiatives outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan that would improve healthcare for people with Parkinson’s and what is missing.

What’s in the plan?

Moving more care from hospitals to communities

The plan proposes a ‘neighbourhood health service’ with neighbourhood health centres set up in every community. These centres will bring together teams of health professionals (nurses, doctors, social workers, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and others) in one place. These centres will provide more joined-up care closer to home and should keep people well for longer and out of hospital.

We stressed the need to include Parkinson's experts in these neighbourhood health teams. We welcome the plan's inclusion of 'hospital specialists' and will campaign to make sure these teams include Parkinson's specialists.

People with complex conditions like Parkinson’s will also be offered a care plan to make sure that their care is personalised to their needs. The care plans, developed with health professionals, will detail the care a person will receive, their health care team contacts, health goals, outcomes of discussions, and actions agreed. This should improve care coordination, incorporate people’s holistic needs as well as their treatment plan, and make care more tailored to their individual needs. We hope such plans will help deliver the joined-up, person-centred care that people with Parkinson’s need.

We welcome the government's plan to partner with health charities to offer formal support at diagnosis, helping people to better manage and live well with their condition.

Parkinson’s Connect is our pioneering referral service that allows health professionals to refer newly diagnosed patients to our support services. On 17 July, the government announced that it will support Diagnosis Connect, a similar referral service to charity support inspired by our programme. We’re partnering with the government to design this new service, and will continue to develop our Parkinson’s Connect programme.

Learn more about Parkinson's Connect.

Making better use of technology in health and care

The plan will introduce a single patient record, bringing together a person’s medical records in one place, accessible by all health professionals. We welcome this change. It should avoid the problem of people having to repeat their story, a long-standing issue we hear from people with Parkinson’s, and help provide more joined-up care.

The plan points to a much greater use of the NHS App to make it easier for people to engage and communicate with their healthcare services and manage all their health needs in one place.

Under the plan, hospital staff would make greater use of artificial intelligence (AI) to free up their time to focus on care rather than on administrative tasks. AI would also be used as part of treatment to improve health outcomes. There is an ambition for wearable technologies to be increasingly used to monitor health, encourage self-care, and alert health teams to potential issues to address them before they become problematic.  

Our consultation response made clear that apps and digital health technologies should enhance, not replace, face-to-face interactions, improving care quality and freeing up specialists’ time for people with Parkinson’s. We also made it clear that using these new technologies might not always be appropriate or practical for some people with Parkinson’s, and that alternatives should always be provided. The plan reflects these considerations.

Focusing on preventing a worsening of illness: physical activity and exercise

The plan discusses a cross-government approach to developing exercise and physical activity opportunities. Being physically active can help people with Parkinson’s manage their symptoms, so this focus on physical activity is welcome.

However, the plan has very few details on preventative approaches that could help people with Parkinson’s to stay well for longer, for example, early access to Parkinson’s specialist multidisciplinary care. We'll continue to influence the government and the NHS to make sure that everyone living with Parkinson’s has access to timely specialist care.

What was missing?

The 10 Year Health Plan includes many initiatives that could benefit people with Parkinson’s. However, without a detailed implementation plan, it is difficult to know if, how and when the changes will happen.

We support the Neurological Alliance’s call for a specific implementation plan for services for people affected by neurological conditions. Without this, the 10 Year Health Plan risks leaving behind the 1 in 6 people living with a neurological condition, including people with Parkinson’s.

What must happen next?

Every person with Parkinson’s should have access to specialist, high-quality, integrated, multidisciplinary care when and where they need it. But for many people right now, this is not happening.

People with Parkinson’s face long waits for diagnosis and treatment, and poor access to specialists. The government must grow and upskill the Parkinson’s health workforce to provide timely, high-quality care for every person with Parkinson’s.

The government is now developing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out the healthcare staff needed to turn their vision into reality. The plan is due to be published in the autumn, and we want it to include measures to attract, retain and train the specialist Parkinson’s health workforce needed now and in the future to provide timely high-quality care for people living with Parkinson’s.

We'll continue to make sure the voices of the Parkinson’s community are heard and stand ready to work with the government to make real improvements to the care of people with Parkinson’s.

Caroline Rassell, our Chief Executive, said:
"The direction of travel set out in the 10 Year Health Plan is positive and the ambition commendable. But much of the plan doesn’t yet meet the needs of people with Parkinson’s.

"The focus on prevention makes sense, but Parkinson’s cannot be prevented. The focus on community is worthwhile, but care in hospital for people with Parkinson’s is still not good enough.  

"For far too long, we, and our charity sector partners, have shouldered the burden, plugging workforce gaps and helping people to manage their condition.

"Now is the time for the government to step up to make its ambition a reality. We’re here and ready to work with them to improve Parkinson's care for all."

Read the 10 Year Health Plan for England on the GOV.UK website.