Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 6 May 2025.

Patients will benefit from over 8.3 million more appointments each year as over 1,000 doctor’s surgeries receive a bricks and mortar upgrade to modernise practices.

Backed by the government’s major cash injection of over £102 million, over 1,000 GP surgeries will receive vital funding to create additional space to see more patients, boost productivity and improve patient care, following years of neglect.

Right now, many GP surgeries could be seeing more patients, but don’t have enough room or the right facilities to accommodate them. From creating new consultation and treatment rooms to making better use of existing space, these quick fixes will help patients across the country be seen faster.

This represents the biggest investment in GP facilities in 5 years and is only possible because of the difficult choices made by the government to invest £26 billion into the NHS. And it is another measure helping the government shift care out of hospital and into the community, as part of its Plan for Change.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:

It will be a long road, but this government is putting in the work to fix our NHS and make it fit for the future.

These are simple fixes for our GP surgeries but for too long they were left to ruin, allowing waiting lists to build and stopping doctors treating more patients.

It is only because of the necessary decisions we took in the Budget that we are able to invest in GP surgeries, start tackling the 8am scramble and deliver better services for patients. The extra investment and reform this government is making, as part of its Plan for Change, will transform our NHS so it can once again be there for you when you need it.

In Norwich, Prospect Medical Practice – serving nearly 7,000 patients in some of the city’s most deprived areas – will create new clinical rooms to deliver more patient consultations.

In the Black Country, vacant office spaces in Harden Health Centre will be converted into clinical consulting rooms, allowing more patient access to primary care.

Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, said:

We know more needs to be done to improve patient access to general practice and this investment in over one thousand primary care premises will help do this.

Bringing GP premises up to a similar condition across England is important to improve patient experience of NHS services, while making primary care a better working environment as we seek to retain and recruit more staff.

It will also help to create additional space and extend the capacity of current premises as we improve access further and bring care closer to the communities where people live as part of the 10 Year Health Plan.

Lord Darzi’s independent report found outdated, inefficient buildings create barriers to delivering high-quality patient care and reduce staff productivity. Today’s boost will tackle this, to make services fit for the future.

Lord Ara Darzi said:

My review found that the primary care estate is simply not fit for purpose, with many GP surgeries housed in inflexible, outdated buildings that cannot enable safe, high-quality care. Today’s investment marks a crucial turning point in addressing this long-standing issue, helping create the modern, purpose-built primary care facilities that patients and staff deserve.

This is the first national capital fund for primary care estates since 2020 and part of a comprehensive package of GP support, alongside recruiting 1,500 additional GPs and reducing bureaucracy.

Projects will be delivered during the 2025 to 2026 financial year, with the first upgrades expected to begin in summer 2025.

Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association said:

Today’s investment in improving GP surgeries is a much-needed step towards better access to care closer to home.

Our reporting shows nearly one-third of patients struggle to book GP appointments, and we have long highlighted what matters in healthcare facilities: truly accessible spaces where everyone receives care with dignity. The potential for 8.3 million additional appointments from these refurbishments will make a real difference to communities waiting for care.

Crucially, it delivers on what patients themselves have called for: modern, accessible spaces that support high-quality care. We look forward to seeing these upgrades rolled out, with a continued focus on ensuring patients everywhere get timely support in settings that support their dignity. This investment represents a meaningful step toward realising what patients have long been asking for.

Ruth Rankine, Primary Care Director at the NHS Confederation, said:

GPs and their teams welcome this vital capital funding to modernise premises to deliver high quality care, closer to home, and fit for the 21st century.

Primary care is the front door of the health service and has been managing increasing demand, yet a historic lack of capital funding in estates has been one of the biggest barriers to improving productivity and creating buildings suitable for modern health care – with a fifth of GP estates pre-dating the NHS and half more than 30 years old.

If we are serious about shifting care from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital, then sustained investment in primary and community estates, equipment and technology is vital.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:

Our last survey of members found that two in five GPs considered their premises unfit for purpose. This not only makes for a poor experience for both patients and practice staff, but it restricts the care and services a practice can provide. Nearly 90% of respondents to our survey said their practice didn’t have enough consulting rooms, and three quarters didn’t have enough space to take on additional GP trainees.

Today’s announcement is an encouraging interim measure that shows the Government is listening and acknowledges that inadequate GP infrastructure needs to be addressed. We now need to see this followed up by further long-term investment.

These upgrades complement the government’s wider NHS reforms, recognising that investment alone isn’t enough and fundamental reform is essential to fix our broken healthcare system.

The government is cutting pointless red tape through the new GP contract, expanding the NHS App to put patients in control of their healthcare, introducing the Advice and Guidance scheme to reduce unnecessary referrals, and enabling community pharmacists to prescribe for routine conditions with a new investment package.

Together, these changes free up clinicians’ time and bring care closer to home.

This is just the beginning of the transformation of primary care. Through our 10 Year Health Plan more care will be shifted out of hospitals and into communities where patients can access it more easily.

This government is going further and faster than ever to turn around the NHS, making it fit for the future. Over 3.1 million elective appointments have already been delivered since July 2024, 6 months ahead of schedule.

The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 4 May 2025.

Cancer 360 brings patient data into one central system, so clinicians can prioritise those most in need and see patients quicker.

• Millions of patients to receive faster cancer diagnosis, helping slash treatment delays as groundbreaking new tech rolled out on NHS as part of major reform to health service
• For first time, all NHS trusts will have access to technology that brings key patient information together so medical teams can easily spot those in need of urgent attention
• The £2bn tech investment from the Autumn Budget will drive essential reforms, freeing up staff time and saving lives, delivering on the government’s Plan for Change

Millions of cancer patients will receive a faster diagnosis, helping cut treatment delays and boost survival rates as the government rolls out pioneering new technology across the NHS through the Plan for Change.

Currently, there are over 2 million people living with cancer, many of whom face a complex journey of tests, appointments or treatments. But a trailblazing new tool – dubbed Cancer 360 – brings all that data into one central system, so clinicians can prioritise those most in need and see patients quicker – with the technology set to benefit millions over the next 5-10 years.

This government inherited a broken NHS. Lord Ara Darzi’s independent investigation found the NHS in ‘critical condition’ – with surging waiting lists and deteriorating national health – and set out the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival.

Cancer 360 represents the crucial reform that must accompany investment, shifting the NHS from analogue to digital, by creating a simple dashboard showing clinicians all the information they need about their patients in one place. Instead of having to gather vital information about each cancer patient from various systems, spreadsheets, emails, and records.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

This government grasped the nettle and made difficult but necessary choices to invest £26 billion into our NHS – a move that is already helping millions of patients and will help millions more.

It’s a long road, but we’re already getting our NHS back on its feet, giving patients over 3 million more appointments, hiring 1,500 new GPs and starting the roll out of new tech that will save lives.

It is only this government’s Plan for Change that will deliver for patients and make our NHS fit for the future.

The real-time tool will help teams to easily track a patient’s progress, avert delays, and even produce personalised treatment plans. It will dramatically reduce paperwork and help ensure vital warning signs aren’t missed.

Cancer 360 is a prime example of the government’s commitment to reform – doing things differently by harnessing digital innovation to improve patient outcomes.

Following recent expansion of the NHS App, which has already stopped 1.5 million hospital appointments being missed and saved 5.7 million staff hours since July 2024, Cancer 360 demonstrates how we are continuing to drive the NHS from analogue to digital, giving patients better care and more control over their healthcare journey.

The investment comes from the Autumn Budget – where the government made difficult but necessary choices to put £26 billion in our NHS. This includes the biggest increase in NHS spending since 2010, excluding COVID-19 years – including £1 billion for digital transformation projects and £121 million for the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP). While this investment is crucial, it’s the reforms in how we use these resources that will truly transform cancer care.

The new tool is built into the FDP, which brings patient information together from across separate systems into one safe and secure environment. Since April 2024, hospitals using the platform have typically performed 70,000 more procedures and reduced unnecessary hospital stays by almost 19% – treating more patients and freeing up valuable bed space.

Suraiya Abdi, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Chelsea and Westminster Foundation Trust said:

The implementation of Cancer 360 has enabled my team to monitor and safely carry our patients through their cancer pathway.

The tool enables us to have in-depth conversations at our weekly meetings regarding a patient’s next step as well as allowing us to escalate queries directly to other teams for faster turnaround.

The tool has reduced the amount of admin time spent by our cancer team therefore enabling them to focus on the patient journey. I have witnessed an improvement in performance, team spirit and most importantly patient experience.

The government’s National Cancer Plan will transform the way we approach this disease, improving care and bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.

Through the Plan for Change, the government is driving forward work to develop innovative treatments and technologies for patients. Last month the Prime Minister announced plans for a new health data research service, to transform access to NHS data so clinical trials can be fast-tracked to accelerate the development of the medicines and therapies of the future, in turn helping boost the UK’s world leading life sciences sector and drive growth.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also recently announced thousands of cancer patients will benefit from new artificial intelligence which detects skin cancer. In addition, it was confirmed that the NHS will become the first health system in Europe to offer a new injectable form of nivolumab – one of the most widely used cancer treatments in England.

This forms part of the government’s wider ambitions to cut waiting lists under its Plan for Change. With a total of 3 million additional appointments already delivered 6 months early, the government is exceeding its own targets and driving down waiting lists at pace, which have fallen for 6 months in a row and by 219,000 since July 2024 – evidence that reform and investment together can deliver real results for patients.

Notes to editors

• Cancer 360, soon to be rolled out across all NHS trusts, demonstrates the shift from analogue to digital processes which is central to the government’s plans to reform the NHS.
• For patients, this means faster diagnoses, reduced waiting times, and more coordinated care throughout their cancer journey. It follows successful pilots at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Royal United Hospital Bath.

Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS National Clinical Transformation Director, said:

Every cancer patient deserves swift, effective care, and our new Cancer 360 solution harnesses data to ensure exactly that. By giving clinicians a comprehensive view of patient pathways, we can identify and address delays immediately.

The NHS Federated Data Platform is already showing its value in transforming cancer care, helping our hard-working staff deliver better outcomes while reducing administrative burden. As Cancer 360 expands to more hospitals nationwide, I’m confident we’ll see meaningful improvements in both treatment times and patient experience.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

I’ve seen first-hand the stress and heartbreak that cancer causes in my own family.

Dependent on archaic pen-and-paper systems, life-saving diagnostics appointments hung on whether a post-it note lost its stick, or a piece of paper went missing. That put lives at risk, and with the technology we have today, there’s no reason for any part of our healthcare service to run in such a way.

Simply by keeping accurate records, the technology we are putting to work today will cut waiting times and save lives, delivering on our Plan for Change. That way, people can once again trust that their local hospital has the tools it needs to focus on what matters – treating their loved ones and keeping families together for longer.