Today marks a significant milestone for the future of healthcare in the UK with the publication of the NHS 10-Year Plan. The British Dietetic Association welcomes the ambition set out in the plan and its focus on prevention, integration, and community-based care.
Dietitians across the UK will recognise many of the plan’s core shifts, from hospital to neighbourhood, analogue to digital, and treatment to prevention, as changes we have long called for.
Bringing care closer to home through new Neighbourhood Health Services has the potential to improve patient experience, reduce pressure on hospitals, and address the growing burden of diet-related ill health. Dietitians already lead on weight management and nutritional care, and contribute to wider preventative services across the NHS.
However, the success of this plan will rest on how it is implemented. The ambition to prevent illness and tackle inequality must be matched with the investment, workforce planning and the infrastructure needed to deliver it.
Many of the services mentioned, from personalised care planning to community rehabilitation, require a properly resourced dietetic workforce. Yet right now, vacancies across the profession remain high and there is insufficient capacity in many areas to meet existing demand, let alone expand provision.
We are also mindful that placing new responsibilities on primary care, general practice and local providers cannot be done without joined-up planning. The plan rightly notes the importance of addressing unmet need in areas with the lowest life expectancy, but those are often the areas where staffing is already most stretched.
We urge the government to prioritise early dialogue with unions and health professions, including dietitians, to co-produce the tools and frameworks needed to make neighbourhood working a reality. This includes digital infrastructure, shared records and workforce data to enable effective planning.
As this plan applies to England, we will also be engaging with devolved governments to understand how similar ambitions may be reflected in their own reform agendas, recognising that healthcare is a devolved matter.
Our Chair, Susan Price said, “We welcome the ambition of the NHS 10-Year Plan and its focus on prevention and personalised care, areas where dietitians are already making a significant impact. As the implementation plans take shape and we begin our in-depth analysis, we look forward to working closely with you, our members, to understand what these changes mean for your dietetic practice. Our key priority is supporting you in adapting and leading within this evolving landscape."
Paul McCardle, BDA England Board Chair added, “Dietitians are already leading the way in areas such as digitally-enabled care, population health, and tackling health inequalities. From supporting long-term condition management through digital platforms to delivering public health interventions, our profession is well-placed to drive implementation of the plan across England. The success of the plan now relies on meaningful delivery and a workforce strategy that enables dietetic expansion across all settings.”
The BDA will work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, political stakeholders and partners across the health system to ensure the dietetic workforce is central to this next chapter of the NHS.
