East Midlands mayor Claire Ward responds to the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan

East Midlands’ mayor has urged the Government to do more in its 10-year NHS plan, as it is ‘missing a key opportunity’.

Mayor Claire Ward was part of the Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust for 11 years and served on the board as a non-executive director for eight years and as the chairman for the last three.

Following the Prime Minister’s launch of the 10-Year Health Plan as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the mayor shared her support for the plan.

The plan aims to move care from hospitals into the community, promote the use of the NHS app to support patients to find relevant services, information and advice.

It will also aim to use artificial intelligence as an early warning system and tackle health inequalities in communities that are most in need.

Mayor Ward said: “I welcome the 10-year NHS plan, which contains ambitions that are dear to my heart.

“The focus on preventing ill health and treating patients closer to home, out of hospital, wherever possible.

“Good health is built at home, in people’s communities.”

She welcomes the desire to use technology to deliver better outcomes, and the fact that the plans put patients at ‘the heart of everything’.

She added: “I have led a hospital trust, and I know how much the country needs this plan to be delivered.

“Mayors like me can and should be part of that delivery. Health is built by good work, high quality homes, meaningful connections to other people, and a nurturing natural environment.”

But Mayor Ward added that she felt that the East Midlands is being overlooked, as it latest restructure of the NHS Integrated Care Boards, Lincolnshire has been “lumped in” with Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, missing what she described as a “key opportunity to be people-centred by aligning health services to local services”.

“All parts of this new ‘cluster’ deserve better,” she said, “I have seen nothing to reassure me that this change will not worsen health services and outcomes for the people of my region.

“For several months now, I have been asking to be part of this decision-making, asking to see their working: silence. This cannot be how it works. The role of Mayor is important because it contains the power of 2.3 million people in the East Midlands, and those people should be respected.

“I will work in whatever partnership emerges from this work: but I expect Government to listen to us and fund the structures to deliver this plan.”