The UK's 10-Year Plan for the health service will be based on a massive pivot to prevention.

The UK government is briefing journalists that a major pivot to prevention can be expected when the 10-year plan for the National Health Service is unveiled on 3 July.

The policy change would see the success of the NHS being measured by its ability to keep patients out of hospital, which would require a paradigm shift to greater promotion of self-care and conversations with patients about leading healthier lives, as well as increased screening, more vaccinations and more health checks. 

There is no evidence yet that any of these tasks will fall to the physical activity or spa and wellness sectors to deliver.

In the recent comprehensive spending review, the government set out its ambition to turn the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) into a prevention rather than a treatment service, as well as shifting from analogue to digital and from hospital to community treatment. 

To do this, £226 billion has been allocated to the NHS up to 2028-9, which is a 3 per cent increase in real-term growth rate. Up to £10 billion will be allocated to technology.

Over the weekend, it was also announced that more bureaucracy will be stripped out of the NHS, following the recent announcement of the abolition of NHS England.

It’s widely recognised that change has to happen or the NHS will collapse – GP appointments are hard to access, there’s a crisis in the mental health of young people, people are still dying in hospital corridors while awaiting beds, ambulances queue outside accident and emergency departments, people get incorrectly told by auto-text that they have cancer, the list goes on.

Even the new NHS CEO, Sir Jim Mackey, is critical, saying the service has “built mechanisms to keep the public away because they’re an inconvenience” and has “fossilised” ways of working.

Further stressing an already stressed service is the worsening health crisis driven by lifestyle diseases. Obesity costs the UK £98 billion a year, while smoking and alcohol, respectively, cost England £43.7 billion and £27.4 billion. Social care costs drain local authority resources, and a lack of capacity in care homes leads to hospital bed-blocking.

In 2023, the Office for National Statistics put the number of people unable to work in the UK at 2.5 million. The biggest reasons are musculoskeletal and mental health issues, both of which the fitness industry can help with.

If the leaks are accurate, this is a momentous time for both the UK and the fitness industry. However, it’s not an easy fix because prevention requires investment, but the ongoing emergency treatment also needs funds.

For the NHS to become a wellness service, it will need a solid partner, so operators must remember the mantras of just do it and commit to optimising data and communication.