NHS England has launched its Medium Term Planning Framework (MTPF), setting out how the health service will deliver reform and recovery between 2026 and 2029.
The framework marks a shift from annual planning cycles to a three- to five-year approach, giving Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS providers more stability to plan services, workforce, and finances.
Key priorities include reducing waiting times, improving access to community and mental health care, and boosting productivity. By 2028/29, the NHS aims for 92% of patients to start treatment within 18 weeks, and for A&E performance to reach 85% within four hours.
Key priorities for 2026–2029
The document outlines a series of national goals and system-level expectations across all major service areas:
Elective, cancer and diagnostics: By 2028/29, at least 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks for treatment.
Urgent and emergency care: Systems are asked to achieve 85% of A&E attendances within four hours and to eliminate 12-hour waits.
Community and primary care: At least 80% of community health service activity should be delivered within 18 weeks, with expanded access to local and digital services.
Mental health, learning disability and autism: Expansion of school-based support teams, a reduction in out-of-area placements, and a shift toward community-led models of care.
Workforce: Improving resident doctors' working lives, reducing sickness absence rates, reducing agency staffing, mandatory training, reformed consultant job planning.
In relation to Consultant Job Planning, the framework calls for providers to implement reforms to improve productivity and staff satisfaction, it states;
“Effective service level job planning is essential to delivering innovation, education and training because it ensures clinical capacity is aligned to both service and education and training needs, providing transparency for funding allocation. Providers must:
• for each year, ensure that 95% of medical job plans are signed-off in line with the business cycle, underpinned by service level demand and capacity planning
• by the end of 2026/27, ensure a system for monitoring and assurance is in place for tracking job planned activity
• by the end of 2027/28, achieve tracking of job planned activity for the full year
• by the end of 2028/29, ensure multiprofessional service level activity and job planning are in place”
Find out more about the NHS England Medium Term Planning Framework
Featured Event:
A Practical Guide to Effective Job Planning
Fri, 17 Jul 2026 | Virtual, Online
This CPD conference will focus on improving job planning and developing your skills in leading and negotiating job plan reviews, reflecting on the NHS England update to medical consultant job planning and implementing the high impact interventions and recommendations in line with the NHS 10 Year Health Plan and Medium Term Planning Framework. The conference will share good practice in job planning to make care safer and improve patient experience, and to maximise the value of patients’ and clinicians’ time and the productivity of services by tackling waste and addressing poor practices.
