The NHS is entering a period of profound change. Alongside the reforms contained within the Health Bill, the Government has set out a vision for a health service built around three shifts: moving care from hospitals into communities, moving from sickness to prevention, and using digital technologies to enable both.
These ambitions are not new. Successive governments have recognised the need to reduce reliance on acute care, improve population health and make better use of technology. What is different is the scale of the challenge. Rising demand, workforce pressures, financial constraints and widening health inequalities mean that incremental change is unlikely to be sufficient.
Delivering these ambitions will require more than new organisational structures. It will require a fundamentally different way of working across the health and care system.