Authored by Ian Binks, Business Development Director, Orion Health

The NHS 10-Year Plan has no shortage of ambition. By 2028, every citizen should have a personalised care plan, the NHS App will act as a true “digital front door”, and the system will be well on its way to becoming the most AI-enabled health service in the world.

It’s a compelling vision. But for many ICS leaders, the question isn’t what, it’s how. How do we deliver these milestones in a system under pressure, where workforce shortages, rising demand, and fragmented digital estates often make transformation feel out of reach?

The good news is that the building blocks already exist. Shared care records are joining up data across care settings. The NHS App is connecting more people to their health information than ever before. And national interoperability initiatives like the Federated Data Platform (FDP) and National Record Locator (NRL) are laying important groundwork for the future.

At Orion Health, we’ve seen what’s possible when ICSs activate these assets in the right way. Based on our experience working alongside NHS organisations, I’ve put together some reflections on how systems can start bridging the gap between vision and delivery.

1. Personalised care planning that moves with people

The 10-Year Plan’s commitment to ensure every citizen has a care plan by 2028 is ambitious, but it’s within reach. Shared care records already enable multidisciplinary teams to collaborate on care plans across settings.

We’ve seen this in practice in areas like emergency and end-of-life care, where our customers are using shared care records to coordinate treatment escalation plans (TEPs) and ReSPECT forms that reflect people’s wishes and clinical needs in real time. This is reducing duplication, improving decision-making, and helping teams focus on what matters most to patients and their families.

Scaling this approach to other cohorts, from people living with long-term conditions to those with complex care needs, would be a huge step forward in enabling personalised, proactive care.

2. Supercharging the NHS App for citizen interaction

By 2028, the NHS App is expected to give citizens access to their full Single Patient Record, consolidating information from across care settings. But the ambition doesn’t stop there, the 10-Year Plan envisions the App becoming an all-encompassing digital front door, supporting navigation, interaction and self-management.

Already, we have customers pushing data from their shared care record seamlessly into the NHS App. This has started with giving citizens instant access to their appointment data across care settings, but, building on the existing Wayfinder work, the potential for what data could be integrated from shared care records is huge.

With a relatively modest capital investment, ICSs could deliver deeper NHS App functionality within 12–24 months, creating a step change in citizen engagement and service efficiency.

3. Joined-up data to power neighbourhood teams

Neighbourhood working is going to become a cornerstone of integrated care delivery, with teams tasked to deliver more joined-up, proactive support closer to home. To succeed, these teams need a complete, longitudinal view of each citizen.

Shared care records can provide the backbone for this. By consolidating data across providers and enabling multidisciplinary teams to do things like view and update care plans in one place, shared care records make it possible for neighbourhood teams to coordinate care effectively, avoid duplication, and intervene earlier.

The opportunity now is to embed these records into everyday workflows and use them to empower teams to plan and act as one.

4. Connecting national and regional systems for smoother care

National initiatives like the FDP and NRL are laying the groundwork for data sharing at scale, but their success depends on integration with the rich regional connections already established through shared care records.

We’re already sharing Treatment Escalation Plans (TEPs) to the NRL in one region, allowing ambulance crews to access these vital documents nationally. Expanding this approach to include more datasets will make critical information available wherever it’s needed.

Looking ahead, enabling two-way data sharing between regional and national systems will unlock smoother care transitions, earlier risk identification and more proactive population health interventions. Shared care records will be central to making this vision a reality.

5. Smarter tools to ease pressure on the workforce

The NHS is striving to become one of the world’s most AI-enabled health systems. For frontline staff, the first priority is not futuristic diagnostics but tools that save time now.

Orion Health is already exploring with our customers how AI-powered features like ambient scribing, record summaries and intelligent search could be layered onto existing systems, like shared care records, to cut down on admin and give clinicians more time to care.

These solutions are proven and can be deployed incrementally to deliver early wins while supporting longer-term transformation.

Moving forward with focus

Delivering on the NHS 10-Year Plan isn’t about starting from scratch. The foundations are already there: shared care records, national platforms and digital tools that already joining up information and care across settings.

The task now is to build on that progress, activating these systems in ways that ease pressure on staff, gives citizens more control, and create space for more proactive, joined-up care.

This isn’t about distant goals. With the right focus, these changes are within reach – and we’re here to help.

Talk to our team of experts