The NHS has actually been marking its 70th anniversary, and the national argument this has released has centred on 3 huge facts. There's been pride in our Health Service's enduring success, and in the shared social commitment it represents. There's been concern - about financing, staffing, increasing inequalities and pressures from a growing and ageing population. But there's likewise been optimism - about the possibilities for continuing medical advance and better results of care.

In looking ahead to the Health Service's 80th birthday, this NHS Long Term Plan takes all three of these truths as its starting point. So to be successful, we must keep all that's good about our health service and its place in our nationwide life. But we should tackle head-on the pressures our personnel face, while making our additional funding reach possible. And as we do so, we need to accelerate the redesign of patient care to future-proof the NHS for the years ahead. This Plan sets out how we will do that. We are now able to because: