MDS, CMML and the newly published NHS 10-Year Health Plan
7 Aug. 2025On July 3rd, after months of consultation with health care professionals, patients, caregivers, support charities (including MDS UK), health alliances and industry partners, the government published its much-anticipated NHS Ten Year Plan.
NHS 10 Year Health Plan: : What it means for MDS/CMML patients and rare blood cancers
Subtitled ‘Fit For The Future’, the NHS 10 Year Plan focuses on three key shifts in healthcare delivery over the next decade:
- Hospital to community: wherever possible, shifting care from being hospital-based to community or home based.
- Analogue to digital: through improved IT, easy-to-use apps and the increased use of AI, reduce the NHS’s administrative burden and risk of delays or errors in communication.
- Treatment to prevention: improve outcomes and overall health, and reduce the strain on NHS services, by preventing as much serious illness as possible.
MDS UK Patient Support Group and the NHS 10 Year Health Plan
MDS UK welcomes the plan and is pleased to have been included in the consultation process. It is punchy, ambitious and includes some very bold targets, such as:
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The eradication of cervical cancer by 2040
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The implementation of single patient records (thereby reducing the need to retell your story each time you are treated somewhere different).
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A strong focus on reducing healthcare inequality and improving access to treatments
Inequality in MDS care must be addressed
However, for those living with Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) and CMML (Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia), inequality in care is still a major issue.
We see inequality not only in socio-economic and ethnic minority contexts, but also:
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When speaking to older patients who feel they’ve been ‘written off’ because of their age, which we see as unacceptable and unethical.
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We see inequality in the lack of psychological support for those not yet at the stage of needing treatment, but who are living with the threat of the disease developing - we feel that no person should be readily dismissed straight after being given a very frightening, life-limiting diagnosis just because no treatment is needed at that point.
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We see it when MDS is described as ‘an old person’s disease’, when we speak to a lot of people diagnosed in their fifties and sixties who are still working, juggling families, elderly relatives and a busy schedule, and without the means to retire early.
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We see first-line treatments, readily available to MDS patients in other parts of the world, being denied to patients in the UK
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In the lack of investment into finding new treatments for MDS, despite an increasing call for it from forward-thinking and caring clinicians.
MDS UK will continue to speak out, raise awareness, and push for change—because every patient deserves the best possible care, no matter their age, background or location.
Read the full NHS Ten Year Health Plan (171 pages) or the Executive summary
Click the image to read the full NHS Ten Year Plan (171 pages) or the Executive summary
"10-Year Health Plan for England – Fit for the Future"
What’s Next: The National Cancer Plan
We look forward now to the publication of the National Cancer Plan, and to seeing exactly how the NHS plans to improve diagnosis, treatments, quality of life and outcomes for those affected by rare cancers such as MDS. We will continue to get MDS and CMML onto the agenda at every opportunity.
