Six NHS schemes that could help fix the health service

The government in England is planning the biggest reimagining of the NHS in its history.

It follows a damning report by surgeon and independent peer Lord Darzi, which warned the health service was in a “critical condition”.

The prime minister has said the new 10-year plan will be based on three concepts: greater use of digital technology, more emphasis on community care, and preventing ill health in the first place.

Across the NHS there are already pockets of innovation – and these localised schemes could help the wider NHS in years to come.

Every month the NHS carries out about 2.5 million tests and scans, including for things like cancer and heart disease.

Ageing or scarce equipment, and some hospitals being tricky for patients to access, means the NHS has been struggling to carry out diagnostic tests quickly enough.

More than a fifth of patients are waiting longer than the target time of six weeks.

One solution has been new centres in community locations – including one in Barnsley’s shopping centre, The Glass Works.

The NHS diagnostic centre opened in 2022, providing everything from ultrasounds and X-rays to breast screening and bone density scans.

The centre’s impact was immediate, reducing the waits for bone density scans from six weeks to one, and increasing the uptake of breast screening by nearly 50%.

It is one of 165 community diagnostic centres, with others located on high streets, university campuses and at football stadiums.

The aim is to increase testing capacity by nine million a year – but a shortage of key staff such as radiologists, who interpret and read the tests, may make that difficult.