DRUK lead open letter on NHS 10 year plan

Signatories state they are concerned that the present 10 year plan fails to address the core issues that create barriers that prevent disabled people from living equal, active and healthy lives.

The open letter reads:

As organisations, we welcomed the publication of the NHS Ten-Year plan. We agree that the NHS needs radical change in order to truly become a health service fit for the 21st century, which empowers Disabled people to live the independent lives they have a right to. 

Physical activity isn't just a public health add-on; it's central to wellbeing, independence, and dignity. But only half (51%) of Disabled people across the country feel they have the opportunity to be active. Worse still, Disabled people are twice as likely to be inactive as non-disabled people. 

The health impact is obvious, with studies suggesting that Disabled adults who do not perform any physical activity are 50% more likely than their active peers to report at least one chronic disease (cancer, diabetes, stroke or heart disease). 

We are concerned that at present the 10-year plan fails to address the core issues that create barriers that prevent Disabled people and others in the community from living equal, active and healthy lives. 

Despite emphasising the need for better community care and offering the creation of “Neighbourhood Health Services’ the plan fails to address how the social care system can be changed to enable more independent, healthier lives for Disabled people. A preventative strategy to achieve a healthier society where Disabled people can live independent lives cannot be delivered without changing the social care system, which millions of Disabled people rely upon. 

As it stands, our current system of social care treats Disabled people as passive recipients of care. Scant funding for this vital system leaves Disabled people without access to their right to independent living, and crucially for the preventive health agenda, leaves the system unable to recognise physical activity as a right, and social care as a powerful enabler of independence, not a set of chargeable tasks.  

Any meaningful preventative strategy must start with co-produced solutions across sectors and invest in the social care system accordingly. We need an emancipatory approach that gives Disabled people choice and control. 

We believe that the government needs to do more to achieve its objectives. But real change is possible; it requires: 

• Short-term funding relief for the sector – to balance the books and keep it afloat. 
• The Casey Commission being empowered to explore how the system can be redrawn and changed to enable Disabled people to live healthier, more active lives. 
• Setting clear targets for increased physical activity levels among different groups, with monitoring and accountability. 
• Promoting opportunities for rehabilitation and reablement to increase people’s abilities. 
• Embedding physical activity promotion further into general practice (e.g., exercise referrals), workforce wellness programmes. 
• Embedding physical activity into care packages – including support for those who use direct payments to be active. 
• Supporting community infrastructure: co-produce plans for investment in green spaces and active travel routes with Disabled people's organisations to facilitate movement. 
•  Integrated Care Boards should ensure that more person-centred, holistic support is offered to those in need of support, moving beyond just focusing on medical issues to encompass social circumstances, self-empowerment, and activity.

We hope that you can take this approach forward and support the health and social care system to go faster and further – using this mandate for radical change to create a health and social care system that enables everyone to live independent, healthy, active lives. 

Signatories:

Disability Rights UK
Get Yourself Active
Moving Social Work
Professor Brett Smith, Durham University
BASW - British Association of Social Workers (BASW)
Royal College of Occupational Therapists
Principle and Strategic Occupational Therapist Network
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)