NHS plans too explosive for the public to see All this week we lead i with one of the largest news investigations into the future of the NHS ever undertaken. […]

All this week we lead i with one of the largest news investigations into the future of the NHS ever undertaken.

A team of 10 reporters and dozens of editors has worked for months, digging through plans unknown to the public.

Some of their findings will shock you. Hospitals will close and merge, A&E units will shut, beds will be lost and care rationed. There will be profound changes to where and how you can access treatment.

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Just a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister called the challenges facing the NHS a “small number of incidents”. She and the Health Secretary have since become much franker: on Friday Jeremy Hunt said problems are “completely unacceptable”. He has a plan, he insists, a “big transformation programme”.

Information never before revealed to the public

Some of the investigation’s findings will shock you. There will be profound changes to where and how you can access treatment.

Well, we’ve looked at that plan – ​and have uncovered proposals that were until recently considered too explosive for public consumption.

As our cover story on Tuesday reveals, 19 hospitals in England have been marked for closure, including five major acute hospitals (see pages 4 to 10 for reports).

For the rest of this week, we will bring you new information about the future of the NHS – never before collected together and revealed to the public – in an attempt to start serious scrutiny of these plans. Such profound changes demand critical and informed debate about the NHS you want.

Major consequences for 55 million people

The proposals uncovered by our Investigations Team – a network of reporters from fellow Johnston Press titles around Britain – will soon have major consequences for 55 million people​ living​ in England, and will​ influence healthcare for the 10.5 million who live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where NHS decision-making is devolved.

The Government can no longer pretend that the health service is coping. Sir Robert Francis QC, who investigated lethal failings in Mid Staffordshire, says the NHS faces an “existential crisis”.

With a £22bn black hole in health service funding, the gap between our demands and NHS resources is growing ​wider, day by day.

We want to hear about your NHS

Your contribution to this debate is important. How ​are NHS services​ near you coping?

We also want to hear your tales of wonderful care. The NHS is one of this nation’s proudest achievements, admired around the world, and is staffed largely by people whose dedication to public service outweighs any personal consideration. It is vital to champion their work when politicians and the media speak so starkly of the challenges.

You can contact us by email on i@inews.co.uk,​ and on Facebook or Twitter: @theipaper and @olyduff