A plan to tackle six major health conditions has been put on pause by the new Government, a health minister has confirmed.
The previous Government wanted to set out a strategy to tackle the conditions contributing to England’s ‘burden of disease’, with then health secretary Steve Barclay saying that ‘for too long our healthcare services have treated these conditions separately’.
At the time, GPs leaders were sceptical about the plan and pointed out that this showed a lack of understanding from the Government around what general practice is, and how it works to treat patients with multi-morbidity.
Now in response to a parliamentary question by MP for York Central Rachael Maskell, public health minister Andrew Gwynne said that, as of last month, work on the major conditions strategy has been paused as the Government evaluates its future plans for the NHS.
He said: ‘As of July 2024, work on the Major Conditions Strategy has been paused. As we develop our plans to rebuild the NHS, we will consider how we incorporate the findings from the Major Conditions Strategy into our plans.’
The strategy was first announced last year by Mr Barclay, and listed the six target conditions as:
- cancers;
- cardiovascular diseases, including stroke and diabetes;
- chronic respiratory diseases;
- dementia;
- mental ill health;
- musculoskeletal disorders.
The strategy interim findings suggested that AI could be used to ‘streamline’ screening programmes so they are more efficient.
The first focus of the plan was supposed to be ‘primary prevention’, including interventions across the population to reduce the risk of disease, for example schemes to increase physical activity.
Professor Azeem Majeed, head of the department of primary care and public health at Imperial College London, said pausing the work was ‘sensible’.
As part of the Government plan to ‘rebuild the NHS’, last month health secretary Wes Streeting revealed that Professor Lord Ara Darzi will lead an investigation into the state of the NHS.
The findings from Lord Darzi’s ‘rapid’ review, expected next month, will inform a new 10-year plan to reform the NHS, and GP leaders have asked him to take into account of risks to continuity of care, insufficient funding, and rising workload dump.
Professor Majeed told Pulse: ‘It is likely the Government is awaiting further information (such as Lord Darzi’s review) before finalising its NHS plans.
‘In this context, pausing major decisions seems sensible because if the various ongoing reviews made specific recommendations, these need to be factored into NHS planning.’
Doctors’ Association UK GP spokesperson Dr Steve Taylor told Pulse that ‘a rethink’ of the major conditions strategy seemed to be positive step.
He said: ‘GPs are experts in managing major overlapping health conditions where patients are suffering from more than one condition at a time.
‘Dealing with chronic long term conditions, policies need to ensure primary care is at the front and centre of management of long term care.
‘Often GPs are managing the care of patients in the gaps between specialists. The focus on providing funding for patients in the community is vital. So a rethink on this strategy seems to be a good thing.’
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