What is the long-term plan?

Acash- and resource-strapped NHS, repeatedly tasked with finding tens of billions in efficiency savings, and where funding gaps and cuts (alongside a rising demand) seems to have become a norm over the last decade. Now as we approach Brexit without any sign of a deal, a whole new string of problems are on the horizon for health care, health professionals and the patients you serve.

In January 2019, the NHS revealed its Long Term Plan for how the Service plans to address the issues that plague health care in the UK, over the next 10 years (NHS, 2019a). It prioritises chronic conditions such as respiratory disease, diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease and mental illness. It promises not only training and equipment for ambulance staff to respond effectively to people in a crisis—but also mental health transport vehicles to reduce inappropriate conveyance to A&E, and plans to bring mental health nurses into ambulance control rooms to increase staff competency through education and training, and improve triage and response to mental health calls.