Biggest ever conversation about the NHS comes to London

More than 100 people from across London came together to share their views on the NHS in the region.

• More than 100 people from across London took part in the biggest ever national conversation to get the NHS back on its feet 

• Public Health Minister, Andrew Gwynne, alongside the Chair of NHS England, Richard Meddings, spoke with locals on ideas to reshape the NHS as part of government's 10 Year Health Plan 

• The event comes as data shows over 1.2 million people across the London region on NHS waiting lists

• Government's Plan for Change will deliver decade of national renewal and build NHS fit for future

London became the latest region to host the biggest ever conversation about the future of the NHS, as part of a nationwide series of public events looking at how to fix the health service. 

More than 100 people from across London came together to share their views today (Sunday 8 December) on the NHS in the region, where waiting lists surpass 1.2 million, and over 34,000 people have been waiting more than a year. 

Attendees heard from Public Health Minister, Andrew Gwynne, and the Chair of NHS England, Richard Meddings, who outlined their commitment to transforming the NHS. 

They also spoke directly to locals from the region on their opinions on how best to reform the NHS and how the government's 10 Year Health Plan can help tackle disparities in the wider region and get the NHS back on its feet. 

This week the Government set out its Plan for Change to drive a decade of national renewal, which will tackle waiting lists and help to build an NHS fit for the future.

Opening the event, Public Health Minister, Andrew Gwynne, said:

I want to say thank you for coming here for this important event. I love the National Health Service, but it is going through the worst crisis in its history – long waits for operations, difficulties getting a GP appointment and people living longer with ill health - often with preventable illness.

But this gives us an opportunity as the new government with a new ambition to fix our NHS as part of a decade of national renewal. And that's what this event is about – hearing from you and understanding how we shape the NHS and how we fix it, not just for today, but for the next 10 years and beyond. So, together, we build a health service fit for the future.

Richard Meddings, Chair of NHS England said:

NHS staff are doing an incredible job - delivering record levels of care for patients but with an ageing and growing population, we know we need to do more to build an NHS fit for the future.

We are determined to ensure that as many of our staff, patients and the public can share their best ideas for the NHS so that we can spread these innovations across the country. And today's 10 Year Health Plan event in London has been a fantastic opportunity for us to hear from people about their experiences.

I have been incredibly impressed by ideas we have heard today including how investing steadily behind technology can empower our staff and transform our patients' experience. I know with continued public and staff support, we can build on this momentum and create an NHS fit for the future.

The Minister and NHS England Chair also visited Great Ormond Street Hospital, where they learned more about EPIC, the electronic patient record system, and meet clinicians and consultants at the hospital.

Last month, the government issued a rallying cry to the nation – including all 1.5 million NHS staff, patients, experts, and the wider public – to visit the online platform change.nhs.uk to share their experiences, views and ideas for fixing the NHS and to help shape the plan.  

Change.nhs.uk has already received almost 1.2 million separate visits, with over 9,000 ideas now live on the site. It will be live until spring 2025 and is available via the NHS App.

Thousands of ideas to fix the health service have been submitted, with suggestions including: 

• establishing an NHS research health company that can be used to get insights on early prevention 

• digital records, so records from all hospitals are available to view at all GP surgeries  

• pop-up / mobile clinics to meet surge demand for services in areas of need 

• stop giving out paper leaflets and sending letters, and limit this to those who do not have access to IT to reduce waste  

All submitted ideas will be carefully considered as part of the engagement process so that we can better understand the priorities of the public, patients and people working in health and care. 

People in the London region are being affected by a range of health issues. As of September 2024, the latest data shows:

• a waiting list of more than 1.2 million in the London commissioning region, with over 34,000 of those waits being more than a year. 
• a waiting list of more than 194,000 at the North Central London Integrated Care Board, with over 4,000 of those being more than a year. 
• a waiting list of more than 74,000 at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with over 1,400 of those being more than a year. 
• a waiting list of more than 8,000 at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, with over 200 of those being more than a year. 

At the end of September 2024, data shows: 

• over 38,000 patients waited more than 4 weeks for a GP appointment in the London Region.
• over 4,600 patients waited more than 4 weeks for a GP appointment at the North Central London Integrated Care Board.

The public engagement exercise will help shape the government's 10 Year Health Plan, which will be published in spring 2025 and will be underlined by three big shifts in healthcare: 

• hospital to community 
• analogue to digital 
• sickness to prevention   

As part of the first shift from ‘hospital to community', the government wants to deliver plans for new neighbourhood health centres, which will be closer to homes and communities. Patients will be able to see family doctors, district nurses, care workers, physiotherapists, health visitors or mental health specialists, all under the same roof.  

In transforming the NHS from analogue to digital, the government will create a more modern NHS by bringing together a single patient record, summarising patient health information, test results and letters in one place, through the NHS App. 

By moving from sickness to prevention, the government wants to shorten the amount of time people spend in ill health and prevent illnesses before they happen. 

Comments about the event from those who attended included:

It's great that everyone can come here today and discuss the future of the NHS, as everyone has some kind of personal experience of it, so it's beneficial for the public and for everyone to know what this 10 Year Plan is. The discussions today are fascinating, and I like to think that it will reassure the public, because it's really important that they are aware that this is happening. The discussions are looking at ways of how to improve the NHS as it's a public service. Whatever happens today that some of this can be implemented just for the betterment and for the future of the NHS to be sustainable.

It's very important to look forward to the next 10 years and try and get the care system back. Everybody's different age group, and we're all talking together, discussing what can happen in the future, the next three years, five years, 10 years. And everybody's got their position on us, and it's been well discussed. Different age has been very important, and all coming across really well.

Today has been very interesting, and there have been lots of good ideas. We all know that the NHS does need to make a change, because it's strained to capacity. I know, from personal experience, that waiting times are long - even getting to talk to your GP is difficult. There definitely needs to be a change. I think today is great, with discussions and batting around really good ideas and everyone is learning a lot of things. And this is what the NHS needs to do, look at other regions where it is working and try and find out why things are working in one place and not working elsewhere.