In July 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care released Fit for the Future: A 10-Year Health Plan for England, setting out proposals for how the NHS will evolve over the next decade.
Developed with the input of more than 250,000 people through the Change NHS initiative, the plan outlines three primary priorities: bringing more care into communities, accelerating the use of digital systems, and focusing on prevention rather than treatment. There’s a lot to take in across the 168 pages of the plan, with proposals and bold ambitions for the next decade of healthcare.
For patients, providers, and system leaders - the key questions are simple, what will reform mean in practice, and how will it change the way care is delivered and experienced?
The plan’s release could hardly be timelier. After years of strain, widening health inequalities, and a stretched workforce, the NHS now faces the challenge of turning expectations into action. Central to this is clear correspondence, accessibility and transparency. As services become more joined up, preventative, and patient-centred, the ability to deliver information that is timely, accessible and easy to understand will be vital.
Considering outpatient care alone, between April 2023 and March 2024, there were 144 million appointments scheduled in England - yet almost one in four patients didn’t attend. Improving communication is therefore not just about cutting inefficiency, it’s about supporting patients, reducing pressure on services, and driving better outcomes across the board. Clear reminders, accessible instructions, and timely updates can make the difference between an appointment being kept or missed.
Each proposal - moving care closer to home, digitising access and records, and prioritising prevention over treatment- has the potential to reshape how patients experience healthcare. And each depends on effective communication to succeed. With the right preparations in place, these shifts can create a more connected, inclusive, and responsive NHS for patients.
Care delivered in community settings demands consistent communication across multiple providers, ensuring patients don’t feel lost between services. Digitisation brings faster access to records and services, but also raises expectations for personalised, multi-channel contact that reflects each patient’s journey. A prevention-first approach, meanwhile, depends on timely reminders and clear messaging to encourage uptake of screenings, vaccinations, and health checks.
Hybrid mail acts as a bridge between digital ambition and patient inclusivity. While many services move online, millions remain digitally excluded. One in three older individuals still lack basic digital skills, and 1.7 million households are offline. By combining automation, logic-led workflows, and paper-based delivery, hybrid mail ensures a unique patient journey that reaches everyone.
The numbers make it clear: the NHS is under pressure like never before. More than 7.4 million people are on elective waiting lists, while GPs delivered 29.3 million appointments in April 2025 - up nearly 19% on the previous year. With demand climbing and staff stretched thin, there’s hardly room left for innovation.
Fragmentation adds to the challenge. With care delivered by multiple providers operating at different levels of digital connectivity, patients are often left navigating duplication, delays, and disjointed experiences. The system can feel anything but seamless, with gaps in coordination affecting both outcomes and patient confidence.
There are, however, proven ways forward. At Derby and Derbyshire ICB for example, CFH’s hybrid mail platform allows teams to send 1,000 letters in minutes - freeing up valuable time, cutting call volumes, and improving patient uptake across more than 100 practices. Examples like this show that communication can be a core enabler of reform, essential to reducing waste, easing pressure on staff, and ensuring patients receive the care they need, whenever they need it.
Integration is central to NHS reform. Through Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and Primary Care Networks (PCNs), care is increasingly delivered by multiple providers who must work together - reinforcing the need for consistent, joined-up communication. Without this, patients risk receiving mixed messages and fragmented experiences, which undermines trust.
CFH help frontline teams meet these challenges with automation built directly into clinical systems like EMIS and Vision. From single practices to large PCNs, communications can be scaled quickly and easily. This means appointment reminders, health check invites, and other patient letters can be managed with ease, reducing administrative pressure and freeing staff to focus on care where it matters most.
Trust also depends on how patients receive information. Branded envelopes, personalised content, and clear return details increase confidence and open rates, while accessible formats such as braille, large print, and translations ensure communication works for everyone. We offer proven, accredited solutions that are ready for the next phase of innovation, including potential integration with crucial initiatives like NHS Notify.
For more than 15 years, CFH have worked alongside the NHS, helping organisations deliver secure, accessible, and cost-effective patient communications at scale. From the first GP practice to adopt Docmail in 2008 to the thousands of providers we support today, our journey has been about one thing - enabling better connections between healthcare teams and their patients.
Today, over 3,000 practices use Docmail, and our products are trusted by ICBs, NHS Trusts, Primary Care organisations, and medical research teams across the UK. In that time, we’ve delivered more than 160 million letters on behalf of NHS clients—helping reduce admin, improve patient engagement, and make communications more inclusive.
Whether through hybrid mail, secure digital delivery, or fully managed services, our goal is the same, to provide innovative, accredited solutions that grow with the NHS and support the ambitions of its 10-Year Plan.
