Fit for the Future
We asked people about the future of NHS services in Greater Manchester and thousands of you shared your views.
The NHS faces challenges, both locally and nationally, with increasing demands and costs.
In Greater Manchester, some people are dying years earlier than they should, and lives are being cut short by illnesses that could be prevented.
Our Fit for the Future engagement project ran from June 2024 to March 2025. Across four different phases, we asked how NHS Greater Manchester can make sure that local NHS services are fit for the future and work well for everyone.
Why did we do this?
We wanted to hear the thoughts and ideas of the Greater Manchester public about how we should tackle three of NHS Greater Manchester's biggest challenges:
- How to make the most of our money and not spend more money than we have.
- Providing good quality services, making it easier for people to get appointments and cutting waiting times.
- Stopping people from getting poorly by preventing illnesses and treating them as early as possible.
Who did we speak to?
Nearly 2,500 people spoke to us at events and pop-up stalls across Greater Manchester.
Another 549 people took part in surveys and hundreds shared their views on social media.
Find out what people told us in detail during each phase below. For a quick summary of the main themes, scroll to the bottom of this page under the heading: What you told us.
Phase 1 - Promoting Fit for the Future
Phase one was about promotion and awareness of the Fit for the Future public engagement project.
Our public engagement team went to various events and groups across Greater Manchester. They signed up hundreds of people to receive information and updates about Fit for the Future. This included details and dates of planned workshops and focus groups, along with our online survey.
Our communications team promoted the project on NHS Greater Manchester's social media channels, reaching almost 150,000 people across the length of the entire project, encouraging people to have their say.
Phase 2 - Financial Balance
Making the most of NHS GM’s money to bring the local NHS finances into balance, making savings where it can.
Phase 3 - Great Services
Making services easier to access with shorter waiting times and fairer for everyone.
Phase 4 - Happy Healthy Lives
Supporting people to live happy, healthy lives by preventing illnesses, where possible, or identifying them earlier.
Next steps
The findings are being used by NHS Greater Manchester's Board to make commissioning plans and inform our clinical strategy.
These strategies and plans set the direction for the future of services across Greater Manchester, and so the feedback will support improvement of services for years to come.
Phases
What you told us
There were several key findings and themes from our discussions with the public:
- Little things make a big difference: Small improvements, like not making mistakes when arranging appointments, mattered more than large-scale changes.
- Communication: People said they were not kept informed about waiting times or treatment plans. This meant they had to chase up different organisations. People also wanted to choose whether to be contacted by text, email or letter.
- Care closer to home: People wanted more routine health services closer to where they lived, as long it was as safe and professional as hospital care.
- Innovation and technology: Many people supported using more technology in the NHS, but only if their data was secure. They also wanted to ensure that people were not at a disadvantage if they could not use technology.
- Prevention: People were willing to talk to us about how things like poor diet, lack of exercise and poor housing caused ill health; however, they tended to focus on health services.
- Inequalities - Concerns were expressed that some areas of Greater Manchester could end up with a better service than others. Deaf people also said that sign language interpreters were not available when needed.
To read about these findings in more detail, plus more about what people told us, you can download each of the reports from this Fit for the Future engagement project by clicking the links below: