Next steps on the NHS five year forward view

The fingerprints of Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, are all over the NHS delivery plan,1 which has been widely trailed as an important update on the state of the NHS. The plan, published at a difficult time for the NHS, summarises progress in improving care since the NHS Five Year Forward View was published in 2014.2 It also outlines ambitions for the future.

The plan seeks to strike a balance between realism about the challenges facing the NHS today and promises to improve care. These promises focus on urgent and emergency care, primary care, cancer, and mental health. They include delivering the four hours standard in all emergency departments during 2018, providing extended access to general practice appointments in the evenings and weekends in all areas of the country by March 2019, introducing a new standard to give patients a definitive cancer diagnosis within 28 days after GP referral by 2020, and increasing the availability of psychological therapies and mental health services for children and young people. …