Public Policy Projects: How prepared is the health system for complex community care? (15 January 2026)

Summary

The government’s 10-Year Health Plan champions a fundamental shift in healthcare delivery, aiming to move treatment closer to home to alleviate system pressures. At the recent Integrated Care Delivery Forum, the discussion moved beyond political ambition to the gritty operational reality of system readiness.

Jill Lockett, outgoing Interim Chief Executive of the Academy of Medical Sciences, chaired the discussion considering System readiness for community-based treatment: Redesigning pathways, people, and practice, in which panellists considered what it takes for the NHS to safely and effectively deliver treatments and monitor conditions, outside of acute settings. A clear consensus emerged: while the clinical vision is robust, financial, digital and workforce infrastructure is currently ill-equipped to support it.