Somerset FT welcomes the government’s 10 Year Plan for the NHS

Today the government launched its 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS, which sets out a bold and ambitious course for the NHS.

The plan has been shaped by the experiences and expectations of members of the public, patients and partners and the health and care workforce – including those in Somerset.

The plan sets out ‘three shifts’ - from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention – we will personalise care, give more power to patients, and ensure that the best of the NHS is available to all.

As part of the plan, Neighbourhood Health Services will be rolled out across the country, bringing diagnostics, mental health, post-op, rehab, and nursing to people’s doorsteps. Pioneering teams, some based entirely under one roof, will be set up in local communities across the country, to dramatically improve access to the NHS.

You can read the plan on the Government's website.

We are very excited to receive the plan and will review it in detail to understand the opportunities it presents to improve services for local people.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust provides a very broad range of services including primary care via our wholly owned subsidiary Symphony Healthcare Services, community services and community hospitals, mental health and learning disability services, and acute hospitals from both Yeovil District Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital. This puts us in a unique position to build on the work that we have already done, to deliver the three shifts set out in the 10 Year Plan, to improve services for local people and make the NHS the very best place to work.

Examples of work that we have done include:

Hospital to Community - Expanding the range of services in communities 

Chemotherapy services at Williton

In December last year, we began providing a new local chemotherapy service at Williton Hospital for the first time, following the successful introduction of the treatment at Bridgwater and Wellington hospitals over the last few years. This service enables patients in West Somerset to receive their regular chemotherapy treatment closer to home.

State-of-the-art operating theatres at Minehead

Two of our community hospitals – Minehead and West Mendip have state-of-the-art operating theatres that are regularly used for procedures using local anaesthetic. A range of day surgeries are offered, including dermatology, maxillofacial for skin surgery, urology screening, podiatric surgery, ocular plastic surgery, as well as hand surgery, which we are hoping to extend in the coming months. The theatres enable local people to have procedures closer to home.

Analogue to Digital

Last week, our digital team won a national award for ‘Improving medicines management and pharmacy through digital’. The trust was recognised for its successful integration of the Better Meds ePMA and Electronic Prescribing Service (EPS) into the Somerset Integrated Digital e-Record (SIDeR) system, which impressed the judges with its impactful innovation and scalability.

ePMA is an electronic prescribing and medicines administration system that is live in our acute and community hospitals, it enables colleagues and patients to benefit from clear, accessible information, clinical decision support, and the automation of many tasks that were traditionally done on paper. All medicines information is available for all, in one place. We also plan to extend the use of ePMA to mental health services later this year.

The electronic prescription service, the first of its type in the country, gives secondary care colleagues the ability to send prescriptions directly to a community pharmacy of our patient’s choice.

Sickness to Prevention - Investment in local health services

In January this year, we celebrated the one-year milestone of a new post-menopausal bleeding self-referral service, which saw over 375 patients in its first year. Before the service was introduced, patients had to wait around 63 days to be seen by a hospital specialist, and then faced a possible wait of up to 48 days for a potential cancer diagnosis. Thanks to the new service, the wait to see a specialist has reduced to just five days, and patients are getting a cancer diagnosis within 22 days of the referral.

Bowel Cancer self-referral

Last year, we launched a brand-new service that makes it easier for people to get checked for bowel cancer in the Bridgwater area. The new service is open to people aged 40-49, who are registered with a local GP in Somerset.

Our colorectal project team has been working with innovative cancer detection specialists, C the Signs, to use its cancer detection platform to develop a first-of-its-kind online referral form which allows people to check their symptoms.

C the Signs is a cancer prediction system that can identify patients at risk of cancer at the earliest and most curable stage of the disease. It has now been developed to allow patients with bowel symptoms to access their risk and recommend any appropriate tests.

Using the latest technology, research and evidence, C the Signs enables healthcare providers to give their patients the best chance of surviving cancer.

Next steps

We will continue to work closely with our health and care partners, including NHS Somerset, Somerset Council and our voluntary sector partners to consider how best to implement the three shifts.

Find out how feedback from people in Somerset helped to shape the plan on the NHS Somerset ICB website.