Overview of consultation

Between October and December 2024, the Government opened a consultation titled 'Change NHS' to invite the public to share their views to inform their development of a 10 Year Health Plan for England. More information can be found on the dedicated consultation page. 

Consultation

Q1. What does your organisation want to see included in the 10-Year Health Plan and why?

At Medical Protection, we believe that the new Government has an opportunity to prioritise long overdue reforms that would significantly improve the experiences and outcomes of healthcare professionals and their patients. The start of a new Parliament – and the commitment to introducing a 10-year plan – provide the opportunity to make real progress in areas that are in need of significant change.

As a medical defence organisation, we have a particular perspective on the reforms needed. We see first-hand the impact that disciplinaries, GMC investigations and other matters have on doctors, and how these could be handled better. We support members during their darkest times, and we have a good view of the support they need for their mental wellbeing. We also see the impact that working in under resourced or unsupportive environments can have on healthcare professionals and their patients. Healthcare professionals who are happy and supported find it much easier to be compassionate and provide safer care, and healthcare professionals who are not excluded from clinical practice for longer than necessary are able to continue doing the best for their patients.

Our recommendations for the 10-Year Health Plan cover three areas.

Firstly, doctors expect to be accountable for the healthcare they provide, however they have the right to expect fair, efficient, and sensitive handling in these processes. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Reforms are needed across employer disciplinary processes, GMC investigations, clinical negligence claims – and in the most extreme of cases - criminal charges, to ensure accountability is fair, proportionate, and sensitive.

Secondly, supporting the wellbeing of healthcare professionals is paramount to a successful health service. It is a paradox that while modern medicine allows doctors to do more for to improve their patients' lives than ever before, mounting evidence shows that doctors feel stressed, burnt out and unable to cope in ever greater numbers. It is ethically right that society invests in caring for those who care for us, however, sustained investment in mental health support for NHS staff is also a fundamental pillar of retention and it should be treated as such.

Finally, the Government must support and develop the NHS workforce to ensure the delivery of timely and effective care to patients. This should include increasing the number of doctors we train, supporting those who come to the UK, retaining valued members of our medical workforce, and creating opportunities for development.

We expand on each of these points in Q5, providing particular policy ideas and immediate priorities.

Improvements in each of these areas would strengthen the NHS and healthcare services, benefiting doctors, other healthcare professionals, and their patients alike. By addressing these issues, the government can create an NHS where healthcare professionals are supported, allowing them to deliver safer, more compassionate patient care.

Earlier this year Medical Protection released a policy document outlining our priorities for the next Government ahead of the General Election. Our full document, including more detailed explanations of specific policy changes, can be found here: ‘Priorities for the next Government’

Q2. What does your organisation see as the biggest challenges and enablers to move more care from hospitals to communities?

Treating patients in the community, where possible, is a positive step. However, as a medical defence organisation, we are not best placed to advise on policy change and proposals linked to increasing community care. We defer to other organisations with more evidenced insight and comments on these issues.

Q3. What does your organisation see as the biggest challenges and enablers to making better use of technology in health and care?

Medical Protection believes in principle that technology should be better utilised in healthcare settings to support effective services, however, we do not have an explicit position on this or suggestions to make improvements.

Q4. What does your organisation see as the biggest challenges and enablers to spotting illnesses earlier and tackling the causes of ill health?

Whilst early diagnoses and the prevention of ill health is undoubtedly an important approach to reducing burden on the health service, Medical Protection are not best placed to advise on policy change in this area. We defer to other organisations with more evidenced insight and comments on this topic.

Q5. Please use this box to share specific policy ideas for change. Please include how you would prioritise these and what timeframe you would expect to see this delivered in, for example: Quick to do, that is in the next year or so, in the middle, that is in the next 2 to 5 years, long term change, that will take more than 5 years.

MPS believes that to build an NHS fit for the future, the following reforms must be prioritised and addressed without delay. Across each of these areas – accountability, wellbeing and workforce – there are critical policy changes that will contribute to a healthcare service where doctors can continue to deliver safe, compassionate care whilst also being appropriately supported.

Accountability:

• Reform the General Medical Council – as an immediate priority, we recommend that secondary legislation is introduced to implement the long overdue removal of the GMC’s right of appeal over fitness to practise decisions. A wide plan for reforming the GMC’s statutory powers as set out in the Medical Act should be implemented during the course of this Parliament.
• Improve the conduct of NHS disciplinary investigations - through dedicated work with NHS England to improve the application of standards, scrutiny of process and adherence to timelines.
• Tackle the rising cost of clinical negligence - by publishing a joint strategy by the health and justice departments, with a firm commitment for the legislation to be implemented within this Parliament.
• Stop the criminalisation of medical error - by launching a review imminently as to how the law on Gross Negligence Manslaughter in England and Wales can be reformed, with the intention to legislate during this Parliament so that charges are only brought against doctors if an act is proved to be intentional, reckless or grossly careless.

Wellbeing:

• Local access to mental health support for NHS staff – the government and NHS England working together to ensure long-term, ringfenced funding to integrated care systems to enable equity of access to mental health services.
• Continued access to NHS Practitioner Health – a government and NHS England commitment to ensuring funding is made available for the continued provision of this vital service for healthcare professionals in primary and secondary care beyond April 2026.
• Encourage NHS organisations to ensure wellbeing support is in place - government and NHS England consideration of a range of measures that would incentivise prioritisation of wellbeing support by NHS organisations to healthcare professionals.
  

Workforce:

• Maintain and grow the numbers of doctors trained in the UK - implementing the NHS workforce plan to create 15,000 medical school places by 2031.
• Retain NHS staff - developing a dedicated NHS retention strategy which grasps at the root the issues that cause healthcare professionals leaving or consider leaving healthcare. We would recommend this being launched at the same time as the new NHS 10 year plan so that they are seen as interdependent and so that there is a long-term commitment in place to deliver the retention strategy.
• Properly support IMGs from the moment they arrive in the UK – working with NHS England to require that Trusts establish a thorough and standardised approach to induction, based on ‘Welcoming and Valuing International Medical Graduates’.
• Value and support SAS and locally employed doctors, by enabling better access to training opportunities, career development and providing job security.
  

As previously stated, in May 2024 Medical Protection released a policy document outlining our priorities for the next Government ahead of the General Election. Our full document, including more detailed explanations of specific policy changes discussed in our response, can be found here: ‘Priorities for the next Government’. 

About MPS

MPS is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals with more than 300,000 members around the world. 

Our in-house experts assist with the wide range of legal and ethical problems that arise from professional practice. This can include clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical and dental council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, disciplinary procedures, inquests and fatal accident inquiries.

MPS is not an insurance company. We are a mutual non-for-profit organisation and the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum of Articles of Association.

Contact

Should you require further information about any aspects of our response to this consultation, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Megan Bennett
Policy and Public Affairs Manager
[email protected]