NHS unveils 10-year plan focused on digital delivery

The government has published its 10-Year Health Plan, outlining an ambitious transformation of the National Health Service in England into a fully digital, patient-focused service. 

At the heart of the 168-page Fit for the Future strategy is an ambition to make the NHS “digital by default,” moving away from analogue systems and hospital-based models toward tech-enabled, community-based, and preventative care.

“This plan will take the NHS from the 20th-century technological laggard it is today, to the 21st-century leader it has the potential to be,” according to the executive summary.

One of the plan’s centrepieces is the evolution of the NHS App into a universal gateway for healthcare access - described by Health Secretary Wes Streeting as a “doctor in your pocket.”

The upgraded app will allow patients to book, cancel, and manage appointments, access records, and receive AI-powered guidance for non-urgent care. The goal is to make the NHS “the most digitally accessible health system in the world.”

“The 10-Year Health Plan will keep every patient fully informed of their healthcare and make using the NHS as easy and convenient as doing your banking or shopping online,” Streeting said.

A national Single Patient Record system is set to be introduced, allowing patients to stop repeating their medical histories across multiple care settings. The system will be secure, patient-controlled, and interoperable across primary, secondary, and community care.

This change, combined with digital triage and AI-driven diagnostics, aims to replace up to two-thirds of outpatient appointments - cutting into the £14 billion the NHS currently spends on them each year.

The plan also includes changes to internal NHS operations, including:

• Single sign-on systems to reduce time spent accessing various platforms
  
  
• AI scribes to automate note-taking during consultations
  
  
• Integrated communication tools for faster collaboration among care teams
  
  

These tools are designed to ease administrative burdens and free up clinical time—critical as the NHS continues to face workforce pressures.