Royal College of Physicians responds to 10 year health plan

Dr Mumtaz Patel, RCP president, said:

‘It’s good to read the UK government’s vision for the NHS over the next decade.

‘We will now look at the plan in detail, but have been pleased to see commitments to a number of RCP campaign calls:

• reform of outpatient care as recommended in our Prescription for outpatients report
• a major shift to neighbourhood care
• an increase in educator and supervisor capacity
• commitments to ensure NHS doctors can continue in their training in the NHS
• an expansion of training posts.

‘Government must next set out its thinking on the specifics of implementation along with some clear timeframes. It will be a real challenge to translate this ambition into reality without a detailed delivery plan. 

‘We welcome the plan’s recognition of the challenges faced by NHS staff, including the experiences of resident doctors, the importance of career progression, training reform and diversity in medicine. The suggestion that staff numbers in 2035 will be lower than those projected in the 2023 Long Term Workforce Plan is concerning. We know we don’t have enough staff currently to meet demand – AI and tech alone won’t solve the problem of capacity.

'Action on obesity and tobacco is important and welcome. We now need to see wider government plans on how it will deliver its manifesto commitments to tackle the social determinants of health and halve the gap in healthy life expectancy. We will keep calling for a coordinated cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities to tackle what makes us ill in the first place.

‘Digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to improve care, speed of access and reduce burden on staff – but realising that potential rests on good implementation. It is important that any digital services are developed inclusively with patients in mind. We welcome the commitments to standardise systems where needed, the investment in infrastructure at system level and to make all NHS staff AI trained. We’ve called for an AI in healthcare strategy, so we look forward to seeing the government’s NHS AI strategic roadmap.  

‘Delivering this vision will only be possible with a medical workforce that is adequately resourced to meet demand, feels supported, valued and is equipped for the future. Our next generation campaign will continue to advocate for reform of the postgraduate training system that supports our resident doctors throughout their NHS career.

‘If government plans to reduce international recruitment, it is vital that it also maintains the commitment to expanding NHS medical school places and postgraduate training places. We also need to ensure that existing international medical graduates – an important and valued group in the NHS workforce – are supported with their education and career progression. 

‘We look forward to seeing the reports of the Leng Review, 10 Year Workforce Plan, and postgraduate medical training review in the coming weeks to better understand the detail of the government’s plans to ensure the NHS has the staff it needs.’

Dr Anthony Martinelli and Dr Catherine Rowan, co-chairs of the RCP’s Resident Doctor Committee, said:

'We strongly welcome that the UK government has explicitly recognised the challenges that NHS resident doctors have faced with rising competition ratios for postgraduate medical training. This is something the RCP highlighted earlier this year. Today’s commitment to ensure doctors leaving medical school in the UK can continue their training in the NHS is welcome. We look forward to seeing the detail on how this will be achieved – as we have said, recognising NHS experience would be a sensible first step. 

‘We also welcome the expansion of specialty training places and a focus on updating curricula to include AI and digital health, alongside a refreshed approach to training doctors in generalist medicine – this reflects the recommendations we made in our medical training review response. This increase of 1,000 new specialty training places over three years must be just the beginning and areas that are awarded these new posts must have the capacity to do training well. 

‘Responding to the RCP’s recent survey of over 1,000 resident doctors, resident doctors across the UK told us that postgraduate training is outdated and unsustainable. The postgraduate review of training must be bold to deliver training fit for the future. This is about patient safety. This plan today identifies many of the right themes that are facing the future of medicine, but detail will be key. We will push for that detail and radical reform on training.’

Responding to the hospital to community shift, Dr John Dean, RCP clinical vice president said:

‘The RCP has long called for a shift toward community-based care that is backed by robust policies and investment. Today’s commitment to redesigning outpatient services is exactly what we called for in our Prescription for Outpatients report.

‘We welcome the introduction of neighbourhood health centres across every community in England. But this shift must not be seen as simply about buildings – It’s about how clinicians and patients work together across traditional boundaries to deliver joined-up, person-centred care. Specialists have a vital role to play in neighbourhood health, and we must ensure they are supported to work across settings as part of integrated teams.

‘Our recent toolkit Time to focus on the blue dots set out how this can be achieved, and we look forward to working with the government to support this transformation of care.’

Responding to the analogue to digital shift, Dr Anne Kinderlerer, the RCP’s digital health clinical lead, said:

'The NHS shift from analogue to digital rightly recognises that digital transformation is a key enabler of more efficient, responsive services for both patients and staff.

‘However, the success of this shift will depend on thoughtful implementation. Digital tools must be co-designed with clinicians and patients, and existing systems optimised to reduce burden and improve care. We welcome the investment in infrastructure and standardisation, which will be critical to delivering a truly connected and inclusive digital NHS.

‘It’s also vital that staff are supported through this transformation. Reforming curricula to include training in AI and digital tools is a welcome move, but we must go further to ensure all staff have the skills, confidence and support they need to thrive in a digitally enabled health service.’ 

Responding to the sections on obesity, Dr Kath McCullough, RCP special adviser on obesity said:

‘It is right that the NHS 10 Year Plan has recognised the importance of expanding a variety of obesity treatments, including digital models, on a health-needs basis – ensuring equitable access. Whilst expanded access to treatment is part of the solution, we must continue to do everything we possibly can to prevent people developing obesity and overweight in the first place.

‘The new mandatory healthy food standards, as well as updated nutrient profiles, have great potential to be a leap forward.  This kind of prevention-first thinking is exactly what we need from the government if it is going to deliver the overarching sickness to prevention shift set out in the plan. Government must now set out the detail and timelines for delivery, funding and specifics including implementing the commitment to restrict junk food advertising to children with no more delay.’

Responding to the sections on tobacco, Professor Sanjay Agrawal, RCP special adviser on tobacco said:

‘We’re pleased to see the government remains committed to implementing opt-out tobacco dependence treatment across all routine hospital care – something the RCP has long called for. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the UK, and this is a vital step toward embedding effective support into everyday NHS care.

‘Many hospitals already offer this service in inpatient and maternity care settings, so the focus must now be on scaling up opt-out treatments to all routine care within hospitals such as outpatient clinics and emergency departments. We look forward to hearing the detailed plans for funding and implementation to ensure these vital new services are delivered at pace. This will be crucial to reduce a leading cause of health inequalities alongside the measures set out in the groundbreaking Tobacco and Vapes Bill.’

Responding to the sections on clinical research, Professor Tom Solomon CBE, RCP academic vice president, said:

‘We’re delighted to see the government’s ambition to make research, development and innovation part of everyday clinical work—a goal the RCP has long championed. Our Making the case for research toolkit supports doctors to do just that, and we’re pleased to see this vision reflected in the 10-Year Plan.

‘We particularly welcome the introduction of joint clinical research and innovation fellowships with industry, which can accelerate the development of new treatments and technologies. The commitment to reversing the decline in clinical academic roles is also encouraging, though this must go beyond funding alone. We need to address the wider systemic barriers that currently disincentivise clinical research and make it harder for clinicians to pursue academic careers.

‘We need to see detail, but the creation of a Health Data Research Service in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, is another promising step that could help position the UK as a global leader in health data science. We also look forward to seeing more detail on the proposed regulatory framework for AI and the plan to ensure all NHS staff are AI-trained—both of which will be critical to delivering safe, effective and future-ready care.’