The new NHS Ten-Year plan has (as expected) generated a lot of discussion. Most of the focus has been on the ‘big-ticket items,’ like Neighbourhood Health Centres, Genomics and Wearables. While these are undoubtedly significant, an equally revolutionary change is happening in the background… a fundamental shift in how the NHS plans and funds its services.
For too long, Primary Care has been hampered by a system that encourages short-term thinking. The annual scramble to spend budgets and renegotiate contracts has stifled innovation and made long-term planning almost impossible.
As we’ve discussed before in our blog on Why NHS Framework Agreements are a Barrier to Innovation and Need Urgent Reform, the existing frameworks have often been a roadblock to progress. The new Ten-Year Plan directly addresses this by introducing multi-year contracts and longer financial planning cycles.
This shift in funding cycles is a significant step forward, creating an environment where strategic, long-term partnerships can flourish.
How are funding cycles set to change?
The plan sets out a clear move away from the old, short-term cycle of financial planning. The goal is to provide greater certainty and enable a more strategic, long-term mindset across Primary Care. Here are the key changes:
- Multi-Year Revenue Budgets: A three-year revenue settlement is planned to begin in the 2026-27 financial year, allowing for much more effective strategic planning.
- Robust Five-Year Plans: All NHS organisations will be required to develop and maintain realistic five-year plans to demonstrate how they will secure financial sustainability over the medium term.
- Dedicated Transformation Funding: At least 3% of annual spend must be reserved for one-time investments in service transformation. This is designed to “pump prime” innovation and change, overcoming previous barriers where the costs and benefits of new ideas fell in different parts of the system.
- Long-Term Capital Investment: To tackle underinvestment in infrastructure, capital budgets will be set on a rolling five-year basis, giving organisations the certainty they need to invest in buildings and technology.
This move away from short-term, annual cycles to a multi-year approach is a game-changer for Primary Care Networks, Integrated Care Boards, and their partners. It’s a change that promises to unlock genuine innovation, improve efficiency, and ultimately, deliver better patient care.
Why is the multi-year approach important?
So, what does this mean in practice? Let’s take a real-world example:
A rural PCN is struggling to recruit experienced prescribing pharmacists. The local talent pool is small, and the PCN is reliant on either 3rd party providers (like Medacy) or Locums to fill the gaps.
Under the old system, the PCN would have to renegotiate contracts every year – this not only eats into clinical time and ties up additional resources, it also provides no guarantee of staffing levels for the following year. This makes it incredibly difficult to plan services effectively and invest in training and development.
The shift to a longer funding cycle changes everything. A PCN can now enter into a three-year contract with a partner like Medacy, giving them full visibility and control of their staffing levels for the entire period.
This stability is transformative. It allows the PCN to plan with confidence, invest in building a sustainable workforce, and develop innovative services that meet the specific needs of their patient population.
It also saves a huge amount of time and resources that would otherwise be spent on annual contract negotiations and recruitment drives.
Unlocking Innovation and a Move to Preventative Care
This new approach isn’t just about making things more efficient, it’s about creating a culture of innovation. With the security of longer-term funding, PCNs and ICBs can partner with a view to real-world transformation, rather than just quick fixes. Innovation doesn’t happen overnight – it often required long-term thinking, iteration and, most importantly, collaboration.
This change is particularly crucial as we move towards a more preventative model of care, with a focus on treating complex patients in the community and reducing hospital readmissions. Forging strategic partnerships with potential suppliers will mean a shared long-term vision, leading to improved planning and implementation, greater agility and improved outcomes for patients. And, at Medacy, we’re excited by the opportunities this new era of strategic planning presents.
It’s not just inside the NHS where this change will unlock new innovation, having a longer-term view on partnerships gives third party providers, technology suppliers and industry partners the freedom to develop and implement new services and products with larger ambitions and longer-term benefits.
Behind The Headlines: The Driver of Change
The move to multi-year funding and planning may not have grabbed the headlines, but its impact will be profound. It’s a change that will empower PCNs and ICBs to think strategically, innovate, and build the long-term partnerships needed to deliver the ambitions of the NHS Ten-Year Plan.
If you’d like to find out more about how Medacy can help your Integrated Care Board (ICB), PCN, or Neighbourhood Team, please get in touch.
