The NHS has an ambitious 10-year strategy, ‘Fit for the Future’, setting out how health and care in England must change to meet rising demand, widening inequalities, and rapid technological transformation. Published by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, the plan for the National Health Service marks one of the most significant reform agendas in a generation. At its heart are three big shifts:
1. From hospital to community
2. From analogue to digital
3. From sickness to prevention
For organisations like Community Action Network and the wider voluntary and community sector, this plan isn’t just interesting policy; it’s recognition that communities are essential to the future of health. Here’s what it means.
Care closer to home
The NHS wants to move away from a system that defaults to hospital care and instead build strong neighbourhood health services. That means more support in GP practices, community hubs, schools, pharmacies and people’s homes. The goal is simple: make care easier to access, reduce hospital pressure and help people stay independent for longer. However, community-based care cannot succeed without community organisations.
Voluntary groups already support people with long-term conditions, tackle loneliness and isolation, provide housing, food and welfare advice, offer culturally trusted spaces for marginalised communities and much more.
These services don’t just complement health care; they often prevent hospital admissions in the first place. If the NHS is shifting care into neighbourhoods, then voluntary and community groups are the infrastructure of those neighbourhoods. They bring trust, relationships and deep local knowledge that no national system can replicate.
Technology with a human touch
The plan sets out a major push to modernise the NHS through digital innovation. A redesigned NHS App, joined-up health records, online consultations and remote monitoring will become central to how care is delivered. Done well, this could save time for staff, make appointments easier, give patients more control and improve coordination across services
But digital progress also carries risks. Not everyone has reliable internet, digital confidence, accessible devices or language support. This is where voluntary and community organisations are indispensable. They run digital inclusion projects, support older people to use online tools and advocate when services are hard to access. Technology alone does not create equity. Communities make digital transformation inclusive.
Building health, not just treating illness
Perhaps the boldest ambition in Fit for the Future is the shift toward prevention. The NHS wants to focus more on stopping illness before it develops. Tackling smoking, obesity, poor mental health and health inequalities. But prevention doesn’t start in hospitals. It starts in everyday life. It happens: in youth clubs, community kitchens, peer support groups, faith centres and local parks.
Voluntary organisations are already leading on healthy eating initiatives, physical activity groups, mental health support, smoking cessation programmes and social prescribing partnerships. Without grassroots groups, the shift from “treating illness” to “building health” simply won’t stick.
One of the most encouraging elements of the plan is its recognition that the NHS cannot deliver change alone. It calls for a deeper partnership with local government, charities, community networks and citizens themselves. If we want care delivered closer to home, digital services that include everyone, and a genuine culture of prevention, then we need long-term investment, meaningful collaboration and genuine power-sharing with the voluntary and community sector.
For organisations like Community Action Network, this 10-year plan is both an opportunity and a challenge. It affirms what community leaders have long known, that Health is shaped locally and inequality is reduced collectively. The next decade will test whether the NHS can move from recognising this reality to fully resourcing it.
If the three big shifts are to succeed, community groups must not be seen as peripheral partners, but as core architects of the future health system.
