Fit for the Future: What England’s 10 Year Health Plan Means for Inclusive Clinical Trials

The UK Government’s new “Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England” sets out a bold vision: shift the NHS from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and reactive to preventative care. At the heart of this plan lies a critical but often overlooked goal: tackling health inequalities through inclusive research and services.

One of the plan’s most important commitments is to improve access to health services and clinical trials for underserved groups such as ethnic minorities, low-income communities, and those living in coastal, rural, and deindustrialised areas. For professionals working in health research, this represents both an opportunity and a call to action.

Rethinking access: trials in the heart of communities

The proposed Neighbourhood Health Centres will offer multidisciplinary support closer to where people live. These centres are more than just care hubs. They represent a new way to bring research to the communities that have long been underrepresented. Locating trial access points within these centres can reduce travel and logistical barriers. They can help build trust through local relationships and allow research conversations to take place in familiar, everyday settings. Embedding trial participation into these environments helps ensure inclusivity from the start.

The NHS App: a digital front door to trials

A major part of the plan involves expanding the NHS App to become a fully functioning digital gateway to healthcare. In addition to managing appointments and diagnostic tools, the app is expected to play a central role in research. It will notify eligible patients about clinical trials and match users with studies based on their health records. It is also intended to increase trial participation from underrepresented groups, including younger adults and members of Black and South Asian communities. By removing common barriers like paperwork, lack of information, or geographical distance, the app will help more people take part in shaping the future of medicine.

Genomics, prevention, and equitable precision care

As healthcare shifts toward precision prevention, genomics, and early diagnostics, research must also evolve. Trials are no longer just about treating those who are already ill. They increasingly focus on identifying risk and intervening earlier. This change offers opportunities to design studies that better reflect the full range of population characteristics. Expanding screening programmes will help researchers gather data from more diverse groups, and that will support the development of treatments that work more effectively for everyone. The challenge now is to ensure these advances do not leave out the very communities they are meant to serve.

Equity is not optional.

The 10 Year Health Plan directly addresses the long-standing health disparities that affect Black and South Asian communities, along with people in low income and under-resourced areas. These inequities have a direct impact not only on health outcomes, but also on how treatments are developed, tested, and delivered. Inclusive research must reach beyond traditional hospitals and clinics. It must use language and materials that reflect the diversity of the population. It must involve trusted voices in communities, from GPs to local leaders. And it must make the process of joining, participating in, and completing a trial as simple and welcoming as possible.

A future built on inclusion.

England’s 10 Year Health Plan offers the foundation for more inclusive and representative research. But infrastructure alone will not deliver change. It requires action from the research community. This means forming partnerships with local health centres that embed trial access into care delivery. It means using digital tools like the NHS App to reach people where they are. And it means including underrepresented populations from the earliest stages of study design.

The future of healthcare depends not only on scientific breakthroughs, but on fairness in how those breakthroughs are discovered and shared. Inclusive clinical trials are a vital part of building a health system that works for everyone.

Source:

Gov.UK : Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England – executive summary.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future/fit-for-the-future-10-year-health-plan-for-england-executive-summary