Overview
- Ministers set out a plan to create 250 local ‘one stop’ sites bringing GPs, nurses, dentists and pharmacists together, prioritising the most deprived areas and shifting more outpatient care out of hospitals.
- More than 100 centres are slated to open by 2030, with named refurbishments including Alfred Barrow in Barrow-in-Furness, Stockland Green and Summerfield in Birmingham, and Jubilee Gardens in Ealing.
- The Budget allocates £300m for NHS technology to automate admin, speed access to patient records and improve staff communication, with the Treasury pointing to a 2.4% rise in hospital productivity this year and projected savings for reinvestment.
- Delivery will mix repurposed estate and new builds using public funding and selective public‑private partnerships where officials say they provide value for money.
- Think tanks and NHS leaders say the measures are a step forward but small relative to need, noting tight budgets, no new money for strike costs or drug price risks, a waiting list still discussed as about 7.4 million, and a rollout expected to take years.