The NHS Long Term Plan published in January 2019 sets out the vision for the NHS for the next 10 years. It sets out how the NHS will move to a new service model with six key principles.

1.  Care and support are personalised: person-centred, co-ordinated and empowering
2.  Services which are created in conjunction with people and their communities
3.  Focus is on equality and narrowing health inequalities
4.  Carers are identified, supported and involved
5.  Voluntary, community, social enterprise and housing sectors as key partners and enablers
6.  Volunteering and social action as key enablers.

This will be achieved by supporting the extension of the range of local services – creating integrated teams of GPs, community health and social care staff.

Within five years, over 2.4 million more people will benefit from ‘social prescribing’, a personal health budget, and new support for managing their own health in partnership with patients' groups and the voluntary sector.

Social prescribing is a way of GPs and other healthcare professionals referring people to activities or services in their community instead of offering only medical solutions.

The National Social Prescribing Academy, which was set up in October 2019, has a remit to help champion social prescribing and support national plans making it available throughout England. It is brokering relationships across health, local Government, justice, arts and culture, sport and the outdoors, and other sectors.

The aim is that by 2020/21, over 1,000 trained link workers will be recruited, with over 900,000 people benefitting from social prescribing by 2023/24.