The number of nurse consultants will increase to 1,000 and a new role of consultant therapist will be introduced. A new Leadership Centre will be set up to develop a new generation of managerial and clinical leaders, including modern matrons with authority to get the basics right on the ward. For the first time there will be a concordat with private providers of healthcare to enable the NHS to make better use of facilities in private hospitals - where this provides value for money and maintains standards of patient care. NHS care will remain free at the point of delivery - whoever provides it. These far reaching reforms to the service will result in direct improvements for patients.
Older people use the NHS more than any other group.
The NHS Plan will bring health improvements across the board for patients but for the first time there will also be a national inequalities target. The NHS Plan will require investment and reform to make it work. These are the most fundamental and far reaching reforms the NHS has seen since 1948. It will take time to get there but over the next few years the NHS will be modernised from top to toe. This is the summary version of The NHS Plan - A plan for investment.