The ‘Joint Forward Plan’ describes how the NHS across South West London will work together over the next five years, outlining clear and tangible steps to improve local services for local people.
The views and needs of local people and communities are placed front and centre for each of the chapter describing actions for each setting of care, and publication follows months of conversations, surveys and meetings to gather their views.
Actions include:
- Deliver new types of screening to identify tumours at an earlier stage, including targeted lung health checks, starting in areas with the highest deprivation and smoking rates.
- Ensure genetic testing for all new colorectal and endometrial cancers to identify those with a higher family risk of cancer.
- Invest in new diagnostic equipment and rooms providing more than 30 new pieces of diagnostic equipment including a modular CT scanner, five echocardiography machines, and three ultrasound machines.
- Deliver focused prevention activities for children and young people known to be at higher risk of developing mental health issues
- Ensure that everyone is offered the choice of where to have their baby, whether at hospital, birth centre or home, and that this is discussed at regular periods throughout her pregnancy.
- Working together on our workforce challenges across south west London, while also exploring the creation of new roles, new ways of working and embracing technological solutions
Mike Bell, Chair of NHS South West London, said: “This is a challenging time for the NHS, but by joining forces across south west London we know we are in the best position to help local people to live longer, healthier lives and make a lasting impact on reducing health inequalities.
“This Joint Forward Plan is just that – it’s been written with the views and health needs of local people at its heart. The last few years have shown us that when we come together, we can make real and tangible improvements to the health of local people.”
Sarah Blow, Chief Executive Officer, NHS South West London, said: “Our ambition is to make real improvements in health and care for local people – to do this we need to be clear about where to focus our action, which is why this roadmap is so important. It will be our guiding star for everything we do in the next five years.
“This is just the starting point and we are clear that to make our ambitions a reality, we need to shift our focus from treatment to prevention, support people to make healthier choices, and improve our services and the way we provide care.”
Alyssa Chase-Vilchez, Executive Officer Healthwatch representative to the South West London Integrated Care System, said: “Our six Healthwatch organisations were pleased to contribute their reports about patient, carer, and public views on health and social services.
“These are clearly embedded into the Joint Forward Plan, and we see that there are actions in the Plan to address many of these comments and concerns. The Plan also has a strong focus on addressing health inequalities throughout.
“We look forward to continuing to contribute our independent insights about people’s views and supporting the NHS in South West London in designing and delivering services informed by the voices of people across our diverse communities.”
Read our Joint Forward Plan