New NHS reforms make major impact on Cogora’s healthcare audiences

The Government has announced a series of NHS reforms, as part of a major shake-up over the next decade, affecting all of Cogora’s healthcare audiences working across primary and secondary care.

The release of the much-anticipated 10-year plan set out the Government’s intentions to move ‘the majority of outpatient care’ outside of hospitals and into the community by 2035, establishing neighbourhood health centres where nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, paramedics and health visitor will all be under one roof.  

As Pulse’s in-depth coverage detailed GPs are also going to be encouraged to work across larger geographies under two new contracts which some leaders have said could have a major impact on the future of the GP partnership model.

The plan also promises to move community pharmacies away from being dispensing-focused and towards more clinical services – and to ensure the sector has a ‘vital role’ under the government’s plans for a ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’, which will have a big impact on The Pharmacist’s audience.

The Government has also championed a ‘stronger focus’ on new weight loss treatments provided through pharmacies and has said that overall there needs to be a bigger focus on ophthalmology, cardiology, respiratory medicine and mental health in the next few years which will feed into the work of all of Cogora’s audiences.

Healthcare Leader and Hospital Healthcare Europe picked out genomic data and the expansion of the NHS App as being central to the blueprint in their overview of what the plan means for those working at a more senior level in the NHS.

The Government sees that their big plan for a Neighbourhood Health Service will push towards prevention through use of technology and genomic insights, whilst the reduction in demand on hospitals will help them to  ‘do less firefighting’ and ‘have greater means to boost productivity through technology and artificial intelligence (AI)’.

But the plan has had mixed reaction from our audiences as all our coverage shows, as practice managers lobby for the profession to be recognised as having a core role in the new neighbourhood health service and nurses argue for more funding to help make it happen.

Coverage of the NHS reforms will continue across all of Cogora's media brands, including a big analysis and a podcast on Pulse next week, as more details emerge on how the Government sees the plans being rolled out across the NHS.