NHS extends deadline for 10 year plan consultation

Now you can – after all NHS staff were invited to share their insights and experience on what’s working and what’s not in the biggest consultation in NHS history.  

And you now have until spring 2025 to complete this consultation.

The survey is open to all NHS staff and will shape NHS England’s 10 Year Plan, which will be published next year.

The consultation is part of the government’s plans to transform the NHS into a ‘neighbourhood health service’, shifting more care from hospitals to communities.

The launch of the plan was prompted by an NHS designed around acute needs struggling with the rise in chronic long-term conditions, and an ageing population.

Prioritise rehabilitation

Physiotherapy workers have long been at the forefront of asking for more resources to go to the community to meet these rising demands, rather than being concentrated on acute hospital care – creating a vicious circle of unmet need.

With enough CSP members calling for easier and earlier access to physiotherapy and prioritising of rehabilitation, the NHS can become a system that avoids the damage caused when people are stuck in hospital, or at home.

The survey asks NHS Staff to tick off any challenges they face from workplace stress to staffing shortages. For those with more time, there are free text boxes to share innovations that have enhanced your practice, or ideas you’d like to see rolled out.

You can also add these to the Ideas For Change part of the consultation website. 

Protect community funding

The survey also invites views on other challenges – expected to include calls for community services funding to be protected, and data routinely gathered, to avoid service cuts. 

Added to this, many will be asking for an increase in physiotherapy roles in the community, as the leading profession in the delivery of person-centred, closer-to-home care. 

Insufficient staffing levels are the biggest reason physiotherapy staff leave the NHS.

Increase physio staffing

Demoralised with not being able to provide the level of service for people they went into the profession to provide, many physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals are choosing to leave the NHS. 

The government has recognised this and pledged the 10 Year Plan will address it. In addition, the survey is drawing attention to the fact acute parts of the system will still need to be staffed at safe levels while community provision is being expanded.

CSP chief executive John Cowman said: ‘I want physiotherapy staff to be in the driving seat of this change. 

You are already working across disciplines and partnering with individuals, communities, and their organisations. If your insights are not included in the consultation, a significant piece of the puzzle will be overlooked.