England’s most senior nurse has said that the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS is an opportunity to improve the healthcare system for both patients and staff.
Speaking ahead of the plan’s publication today, Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer (CNO) at NHS England, said it was about enabling nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers to “do the things that they do best”.
The plan will be published today by the Department of Health and Social Care. It will lay out prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and health and social care secretary Wes Streeting’s vision for the health service in the coming decade.
Snapshots of the plan have already been published, including an AI system for spotting negative trends in hospitals and the dissolution of some NHS-adjacent organisations like the National Guardian’s Office and Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).
Mr Burton said of the plan: “[It is] a great opportunity to shape the health of this country and to improve it.
“It’s also an opportunity to improve the experience of people using our services, and also the experience of our staff working in our services as well – who want to come to work, and come to work every day, to do the best that they can.
“This is about actually making it better so they can do the things that they do best,” he said in the video posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Mr Burton, who helped build the plan, said he heard “loud and clear” from nurses and midwives how important they thought it was.
He added that it would remove “some of the frustrations that get in the way of doing the things they are great at”.
The top nurse said the plan will take aim at healthcare inequalities, as well as improving the experience of patients in services.
Mr Burton also said that he was happy to see it outline how the NHS would improve women’s health, adding that this is “a really important part of the plan”.
