The NHS has actually been marking its 70th anniversary, and the national debate this has released has centred on three big realities. There's been pride in our Health Service's enduring success, and in the shared social commitment it represents. There's been concern - about funding, staffing, increasing inequalities and pressures from a growing and ageing population. But there's also been optimism - about the possibilities for continuing medical advance and much better results of care.

In expecting the Health Service's 80th birthday, this NHS Long Term Plan takes all 3 of these realities as its beginning point. So to be successful, we should keep all that's excellent about our health service and its location in our nationwide life. But we should take on head-on the pressures our personnel face, while making our extra funding go as far as possible. And as we do so, we need to accelerate the redesign of client care to future-proof the NHS for the decade ahead. This Plan sets out how we will do that. We are now able to because: