The NHS Long Term Plan was published in 2019 to address some of the long-term issues faced by the health system. The three main deliverables of the plan are: Making sure everyone gets the best start in life, delivering world class care for major health problems and supporting people to age well. An overarching goal of the plan to boost the use of out-of-hospital care.
Funding to achieve these ambitions will be increased to primary and community care by at least £4.5bn. The long-term plan confirms: ‘We commit to increase investment in primary medical and community health services as a share of the total national NHS revenue spend across the five years from 2019/20 to 2023/24. This means spending on these services will be at least £4.5bn higher in five years’ time.’
In response to the NHS Long Term Plan, the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework for 2019-2024 sets out the direction for community pharmacy. Overall, it places less emphasis for Pharmacies on dispensing and more on providing advice and other support for patients in community settings.
DirectorsTalk caught up with Goodbody Health CEO Marc Howells to ask how his company is aligned to the NHS Long Term Plan.
Marc commented: “The NHS is looking carefully at which services can be easily undertaken by pharmacies rather than GP surgeries. The most immediate has been vaccinations, with the rapid uptake of COVID jabs and the 2021 flu programme being achieved by a big increase in involved pharmacies.
The Long Term Plan sets out that there is a need to give people more control over their own health through community services by partnering with providers like Goodbody Clinics. The need for radical investment and reform of diagnostic services was recognised at the time of the Plan. The Covid-19 pandemic has further amplified the need for radical change in the provision of diagnostic services. Our Clinic proposition supports all three ambitions but in particular testing for diagnosis symptoms and to manage chronic conditions will help to deliver world class care for major health problems and with an inquisitive check up based on age and other characteristics will support people to age well.”
Marc went on to say: “Community phlebotomy services should be improved, so that all patients can have blood samples taken close to their homes, at least six days a week, without needing to go to hospitals or GPs. We are scaling-up our established distribution network of over 140+ clinics, utilising our proven success model, to create a national footprint of over 2,000 Community Diagnostic Hubs by 2024.”
The Goodbody Health Group Inc. is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), the Aquis Stock Exchange – Growth Market (AQSE) Apex segment, OTC Pink, and Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE), providing current and prospective shareholders with multiple platforms in which to buy and sell Goodbody Health Group Inc. stock under the EPIC codes: CSE: GDBY / AQSE:GDBY / FRA: 484 / OTC: SCNNF. Retail customers can trade via online brokers AJ Bell, Jarvis Investment Management, Interactive Investor and The Share Centre, alongside the extensive range of telephone broking service providers.
