Drowned out by other matters was a key announcement last week which is relevant to all of us.

I am, of course, talking about the long-term plan for the NHS.

This has been drawn up by the NHS itself. It has been led by clinicians, not politicians.

Crucially it has a local focus, locally supported by a determination to cut waste and ensure that every penny is well spent. £20.5bn of extra money for the NHS is by anyone’s standards a big increase but we know from the past that just throwing more cash at the NHS is not enough on its own.

It has to come with proper planning and a long hard look at the challenges that lie ahead.

The key element underpinning the plan is prevention, moving away from a system that simply treats the sick towards one that helps people to live well for longer.

This means tackling issues that contribute to poor health such as smoking and obesity. I

t also means better and earlier detection for diseases such as cancer, heart disease and dementia with better and more targeted screening.

There are plans to build Rapid Access Diagnostic Centres so you can get a diagnosis on the same day and new technologies such as genomic testing will deliver more personalised and effective treatments.

It is predicted that in ten years, 55,000 more people will survive cancer each year and over 100,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia will have been prevented.

A while ago I was fortunate enough to visit the Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell, just up the A34 from Newbury.

This is a hub for scientific innovation and entrepreneurship and brims with energy and excitement.

There I saw how satellite technology is being used in many sectors including healthcare, delivering new and world-changing technology that will transform the way we are diagnosed and treated. It is this level of home-grown innovation that makes me hopeful for the future of this country and positive that the NHS will cope with the challenges that lie ahead.