The Government’s 10 Year Health Plan sets out a clear shift in how health and care should be delivered: prevention before treatment, neighbourhood-based services, and digital access as the default.
At the centre of this vision sits self-care — not as an optional extra, but as a core pillar of a sustainable NHS.
Community pharmacy is critical to making this ambition a reality. It is the most accessible part of the healthcare system, embedded in local communities, trusted by patients, and already managing a significant proportion of everyday health need.
ConsultTed is ideally placed to be the vehicle to drive this policy change.
By connecting citizens, community pharmacy and neighbourhood health services through a digitally enabled platform, ConsultTed can help translate national strategy into consistent, real-world action.
1) Self-care: from policy principle to everyday practice
Self-care includes the actions individuals take to develop, protect, maintain and improve their health and wellbeing.
- Reduces avoidable pressure on GP and urgent care services
- Improves population health outcomes
- Empowers people to take greater control of their own health
Bottom line: self-care works best when it’s actively supported — not left to chance.
2) Community pharmacy: the front door to preventative care
Community pharmacy is uniquely positioned to act as the gateway to self-care within primary care. It is walk-in, local, trusted, and already delivering prevention and minor illness support at scale.
To fully deliver the Plan’s ambition, pharmacy needs practical integration — not just recognition.
- Clear roles within neighbourhood health pathways
- Digital connectivity with general practice and neighbourhood teams
- Joined-up referrals, booking and record updates
- Visibility as a first point of contact for care
Smart reality check: if patients can’t move smoothly between services, they default back to GP and A&E.
3) Digital enablement: turning advice into action
The Plan’s direction of travel is clear: the NHS App and digital triage will become the main “front door” to services.
But information alone doesn’t change behaviour. People need frictionless pathways from guidance to the right service — at the right time.
ConsultTed is ideally placed to provide that connection by supporting navigation into community pharmacy and neighbourhood services, helping prevention become the default pathway, not the exception.
4) Bridging the gap between policy and public behaviour
People increasingly value self-care and want to take an active role in managing their health. However, many still feel unsupported by the system to do it confidently.
This is where consistent, evidence-based guidance and clear signposting matters — using language people recognise and trust.
- Clear, plain-English self-care guidance
- Support to choose the right service first time
- Confidence-building pathways that normalise prevention
5) Ensuring digital access, trust and inclusion
For digital transformation to succeed, it must work for everyone — including people facing barriers such as literacy, language, connectivity and confidence.
Any digital journey must be intuitive, inclusive, and built around trusted, evidence-based information. Offline options and community support should be part of the design, not an afterthought.
6) Accountability: making delivery consistent locally
Ambition without accountability will not deliver change. Prevention and self-care responsibilities remain fragmented across systems, often without shared metrics.
Neighbourhood health governance needs clear outcomes and consistent reporting — so progress does not vary by postcode.
ConsultTed can support this by enabling scalable pathways and providing insight into demand, service use and outcomes across regions.
Turning ambition into action
The 10 Year Health Plan sets the right direction. Community pharmacy is the right gateway. Digital enablement is the right lever.
What is needed now is a practical vehicle to bring these elements together — at scale, consistently, and with measurable outcomes.
ConsultTed is ideally placed to be the vehicle to drive this policy change, empowering community pharmacy and making prevention and self-care a normal, supported part of primary care.
Next step
ConsultTed’s mission is to help patients get better and stay better — by making self-care simpler, signposting clearer, and community pharmacy easier to access as a first-line option.
Prevention should be the default — not the backup plan
If we want a sustainable NHS, we must make self-care and preventative access simple, trusted, and consistent. ConsultTed and community pharmacy can make that real.
