Bringing to life the new 10-Year Health Plan – your chance to shape how Somerset NHS shifts care to neighbourhoods for better health outcomes and less pressure on main hospitals

August 5, 2025

Health and care partners are inviting local people to influence how the NHS in
Somerset puts into practice one of the key shifts at the heart of the Government’s
new 10-Year Health Plan by reshaping the way care is provided in local communities.

Moving care from hospitals to communities is among the three key shifts at the centre
of the 10-Year Health Plan, which was published in July 2025, after the biggest
national and local conversation about the future of the NHS over the winter.
Nationally, 270,000 people took part and among the outcomes was clear support for
treating people closer to – and in – their own homes whenever possible, something
that people in Somerset have also told the NHS they support.

Now NHS Somerset, which is responsible for planning, paying for and monitoring
NHS health services, are asking local people how best to deliver more care closer to
home and in their local neighbourhood.

Underpinning the work are six core principles:

  • Studies show that people often recover faster in their familiarity of their own
    home
  • Recent data shows that less than one in three community hospital beds is
    occupied by someone from the local area* and clinicians believe more local
    people can be supported in their homes, or closer to home, by changing the
    way we offer care.
  • Being in a hospital bed creates risks for patients – it is widely acknowledged**
    that ‘deconditioning syndrome’ can lead to reduced muscle strength and
    circulation, and increased dependence, confusion and demotivation, as well a
    risk of picking up a hospital-acquired infection (like MRSA)
  • Modern ways of providing reablement care allow the same number of NHS
    staff to look after more people in the community – normally a care home bed,
    or the patient’s own bed – meaning fewer people are stuck in an acute
    hospital bed when they are medically fit to leave.
  • It is nearly seven times more expensive to provide reablement care in a
    hospital bed compared to reablement care in the patient’s own home. People
    staying in a community hospital bed for reablement care stay on average 37.2
    days (meaning that bed can only be used by about nine people in a whole
    year) at an average cost of more than £9,500 per patient. People who get
    reablement care at home receive it for an average of 17 days at a cost of
    about £1,400 per person.
  • Local and national public engagement schemes – including Somerset’s Fit For
    My Future programme and the 10-Year Health Plan engagement – show clear
    support for delivering care closer to home.

Today (5 August), NHS Somerset, is formally launching a public engagement
programme to help shape the development of its overarching Community Services
Strategy.

Community services include:

  • Outpatient clinics – where patients receive medical consultations,
  • assessments, treatments, or follow-up care without being admitted to hospital
  • overnight, typically run by consultants, nurses, or other healthcare
  • professionals
  • Inpatient care – where patients receive care that requires them to be admitted
    to a hospital bed
  • Therapy services – covering mental and physical health, from talking therapies
    to physiotherapy and reablement
  • Dementia services
  • Children’s services

Dr Tom MacConnell, a consultant cardiologist and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at
NHS Somerset, said: “Since I arrived in Somerset over 30 years ago I have
undertaken community outpatient clinics or supported primary care colleagues in
online clinical meetings. The publication of the 10-Year Health Plan is a great
opportunity to rethink and develop a broader approach to community services.

“We want to retain the essence of community hospitals and to care for people locally,
but modernise the way we do this, that’s fit for purpose, more than 75 years since the
NHS was first created.

“This is about using community resources, including community hospitals, in a way to
allow the best possible local delivery of care. This could include local access to
chemotherapy, or more x-rays or more outpatient clinics in community settings. We
want to get better outcomes with the resources, that are available to our community
“Many Somerset residents are clear that when they are ill, they would prefer to be at
home, or as close to it as possible, provided the care which gives them the best and
safe outcome is available. We’re really looking forward to working with local
communities to explore what that could look like for them.”

The strategy, which is due to be published later this year, will enshrine the high-level
principles of how the local NHS will deliver community services across the county as
a whole. Detailed engagement work will also be taking place in neighbourhood areas
about how best to deliver the strategy and the 10 Year Health Plan at a local level, in
keeping with the 10-Year Health Plan. If you’d like to be part of NHS Somerset’s
engagement work, email somicb.engagement@nhs.net.

Local people can have their say in the following ways:

A stakeholder reference group is also being set up as a forum to represent the
Somerset community where ideas can be tested and feedback shared – email
somicb.engagement@nhs.net to express an interest in being part of the group.

The strategy will also consider government policy, Somerset’s Health and Care
Strategy and Joint Forward Plan, data on local populations and their needs,
outcomes from previous engagement programmes such as Fit For My Future,
Somerset’s Big Conversation 2024 and the 10-Year Health Plan, along with clinical
evidence from best practice methods, current practice and ‘test and learn’ projects.