HEALTH chiefs have welcomed a 10 year plan for the NHS.

The plan, launched this week, includes big funding increases for GPs and mental health services.

A focus on preventing ill health will see phone or video-chat consultations rolled-in to replace outpatient appointments for patients who struggle to attend them. It is hoped better testing will result in cancers being detected earlier. Mental health support will be made available to an extra 345,000 young people in England and Wales.

Toothill GP Peter Swinyard said there was a lot to welcome in the new plan: “Clearly the devil is in the detail, but I haven’t found any poison in it and that is really quite impressive.”

He pointed to commitments to promote integration between GPs and community-based NHS staff like health workers and district nurses: “I haven’t seen a health visitor face to face for several years.”

NHS bosses have pledged an extra £4.5bn for primary care by 2023/24. The money will be distributed through primary care networks, the name given to groupings of GP surgeries of which there are three in Swindon.

However, Dr Swinyard, who also runs the Family Doctor Association and was consulted by NHS England bosses drawing up the new long term plan, said a government pledge to train an extra 5,000 GPs remained. “It’s not being met and in fact we have 1,000 fewer GPs than when the government said we need more,” he added. Swindon needs around 25 more GPs.

Great Western Hospital could face financial struggles. The hospital currently expects to end the year with a £16.5m deficit.

And under the new plan, ministers plan to reduce the number of NHS trusts in deficit. By 2023/24 all trusts should be balancing their books by the end of the year.

But hospital strategy director Kevin McNamara welcomed the plan’s focus on improving public health and care for patients at home rather than in hospitals. “These are things that are core to our own objectives,” he said. Swindon NHS organisations are drawing up a five year plan in response to the new NHS document.

Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group, which pays much of the NHS health bill for people living in the town, welcomed the long term plan. A spokesman said: "Like other NHS organisations across the country, we were incredibly excited to see the publication of the Long Term Plan, particularly as many of its priorities, such as providing better support for people at the beginning and end of their lives, mirror those which we have identified for Swindon.

“The NHS is constantly evolving and always looking for new and innovative ways of providing the care people need to stay well and, with this plan, we now have a clear vision of where we can not only enhance what we already have in Swindon, but also introduce new services that will ensure local people are able to live a long, healthy and, most importantly, happy life.”

Coun Brian Ford, cabinet member for health at Swindon Borough Council, urged the government to publish a long-delayed green paper on adult social care: “It’s long overdue and we hope this will mesh and gel with the long term plan. It’s essential that we all work together for the good of the residents of Swindon.”