Planning Health and Care for 2025-2026
Some significant guidance for the NHS has been published at the start of 2025 that is shaping our VCFSE work as health and care system partners in Cheshire and Merseyside in the year ahead.
Here we give an overview of the key national announcements about priorities for the year ahead and how NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s and our VCFSE Health and Care Transformation Programme are already responding to them.
You’ll find links to key documents throughout.
National picture
At the end of January, the government published its mandate to the NHS, with much slimed down operating priorities for 2025-2026.
It starts to describe how the NHS will re-focus around the ‘three shifts’ - expected to be the core of the forthcoming 10 year health plan - through three overarching objectives:
reform to cut waiting times
reform to improve primary care
reform to improve urgent and emergency care.
Priorities and operational planning guidance for 2025-2026 was published at the same time responding to the mandate with an aligned and similarly reduced focus.
Whilst there are many areas in the guidance that should present opportunities for sector contribution – neighbourhood health and prevention – it is also clear about the need for the NHS to live within its means.
Towards greater fiscal control, guidance calls for reducing running costs and 4% productivity improvement targets for trusts, reducing variation and waste to achieve better outcomes
Financial allocations for integrated care boards are released alongside the operational planning guidance and whilst increased, these will need to accommodate additional pressures and asks on the NHS, such as action on reducing waiting times (elective care recovery plan published early January), national insurance contributions and new NICE treatments
An NHS re-focused around neighbourhood health is seen as central to delivering on many of the headline priorities, with guidelines on how ICBs and local authorities should jointly develop their model being issued alongside operational and planning guidance.
There are six initial core components that systems are required to consider in developing their model – population health management, modern general practice, standardising community health services (new guidance on this also released in January), neighbourhood multi-disciplinary teams, integrated intermediate care with a ‘home first’ approach and urgent neighbourhood services.
Cheshire and Merseyside picture
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside (NHSC&M) began developing its commissioning intentions for 2025-2026 at the end of 2024, building on existing priorities and information about local health and needs.
The newly published national guidance will now also inform NHSC&M’s draft commissioning intentions, along with feedback from C&M VCFSE Health and Care Leaders at our January meeting.
We are recommending NHS C&M includes the following three high level areas relating to working with VCFSEs:
embedding the sector in provider collaboratives to strengthen delivery
co-design and inclusive engagement
creating fiscal incentives for a sustainable integrated care system and to encourage the shift to prevention and community services
These three goals align with our C&M VCFSE Health and Care Transformation Programme plan and priorities for the financial year – which have been shaped by discussions from C&M Leaders group and other key forums.
Emerging areas of focus for our wider work programme complement national and system planning, including hospital discharge, prevention programmes and progressing recommendations from our Caring Neighbourhoods research to embed the VCFSE in the design and delivery of C&M’s nationally mandated integrated neighbourhood health model.
Summary
There is recognition of the role and importance of working with the VCFSE sector in all newly published national guidance and directives, albeit implied in some cases.
We continue to work proactively with partners from NHSC&M and wider partners to strengthen VCFSE involvement in planning and delivery of health and care in the year ahead and will update as this progresses.
Find out more
VSNW analysis of NHS priorities - read our blog on the operational planning guidance, outlining considerations and concerns for our sector
NHS C&M’s commissioning intentions - presented to January’s C&M VCFSE Leaders Group
Our VCFSE Health and Care Transformation Programme priorities 2025-2026 - presented to January’s C&M VCFSE Leaders Group