What’s Next for the NHS? Insights from Our Roundtable on the 10-Year Plan

At MedLed, we recently brought together a diverse group of healthcare professionals for a focused roundtable discussion on the NHS 10-Year Plan. The session captured honest reflections, practical insights, and shared challenges from across the system - highlighting where we are, and where we need to go to achieve meaningful change.

This blog captures the key themes that emerged from that conversation.

1. Workforce & Training: The Backbone of the Plan

Staffing shortages remain the number one barrier to delivering the ambitions of the NHS 10-Year Plan. While the vision is bold, real progress is being hindered by:

• A decline in student enrolment and apprenticeship uptake

• Training cancellations due to service pressures, impacting morale and retention

• Human Factors training often squeezed out by the weight of mandatory training

• Encouragingly, train-the-trainer models are helping some Trusts build internal capability in cost-effective ways

2. Patient Safety & Culture: Moving Beyond Blame

Despite a system-wide shift toward learning and improvement, blame culture continues to undermine progress.

• The rollout of PSIRF (Patient Safety Incident Response Framework) remains challenging, especially in community care

• Debriefing and simulation should be routine, but structural and cultural barriers persist

• Sustainable culture change requires commitment at every level: from executives to frontline champions

3. Education & Integration: Building Skills Across Boundaries

The Plan calls for integrated care - but without integrated training, that goal remains distant.

• The 10-Year Plan is seen as aspirational but vague, with limited operational clarity.

• Integrated MDT education is needed across primary, secondary, and community care.

• Leadership and communication training valued, but must be practical and confidence-building.

• Non-medical staff lack protected training time, creating inequity in development opportunities.

4. Financial Pressures: The Invisible Constraint

Ambitions for prevention, safety, and quality are constantly at odds with central cost-cutting measures.

• Training is one of the first things cut under financial strain, despite its long-term value

• Participants feared that stronger Trusts may gain more from the Plan - potentially widening regional inequalities

5. Technology & Innovation: Potential vs Reality

AI and digital tools are full of promise - but also face governance, ethical, and practical hurdles.

• AI is seen as a future asset for areas like screening and admin

• However, patient engagement remains low, often due to time constraints and cultural factors

6. Collaboration & Networking: More Important Than Ever

The session ended with a powerful reminder: peer support and external collaboration are vital.

• Cross-Trust networking and knowledge-sharing are high on everyone’s wishlist

• External partners like MedLed can support with board engagement, Human Factors integration, and safety culture training

• Roundtables like this one offer space for honest conversations, practical support, and long-term thinking

Final Thoughts

The NHS 10-Year Plan presents a bold future - but its success depends on real-world solutions to workforce, training, safety, and funding challenges.

At MedLed, we’re committed to helping organisations bridge those gaps through expert-led training, system thinking, and culture-focused support. We're proud to create spaces where ideas can be shared and problems can be solved - together.