In a letter to ICB and trust chief executives, Sir Jim set out the key metrics for 2026/27 and outlined plans for the two following years.

He said: ‘What we absolutely need to avoid is the risk that, while we are rightly focused on making 2026/27 a success, we miss maximising the opportunity the multi-year planning process gives us to stretch ourselves over the medium term and really bring the benefits of the 10-Year Health Plan to life.'

Sir Jim said NHS England was ‘within a cat's whisker' of delivering its key operational imperatives on referral to treatment and urgent and emergency care.

He asked ICBs to, by 15 May, summarise their plans to bring the benefits of the 10-Year Health Plan to life, covering the development of strategic commissioning and  neighbourhood care, and whether they would like to see changes to financial flows and/or payment systems to help deliver this.

The letter was accompanied by eight key priorities to support the next set of ‘big leaps'.

These comprise:

• shifting away from traditional outpatient models through an expansion of Advice and Guidance
• reducing hospital bed‑days for highest‑risk cohorts 
• scheduling and access reform for urgent care
• expanding the deployment of Ambient Voice Technology
• expanding the role of the NHS App as the digital front door to the NHS
• realigning the payment system to service changes, including new payment models for urgent and emergency care
• publication of a new quality strategy
• launching the new Leadership College.