• Eliminate a projected 2020/21 deficit of £355 million;
• Encourage prevention and self-management, to increase the number of people "managing with minimum support";
• To reduce infrastructure costs by 10%;
• To reduce care in specialist settings, through the development of place-based 'community hubs/networks' fully integrated with primary care;
• Overall the aim is to eliminate the deficit by moving care from bed-based hospital care to the community/primary care.

Like other areas the STP aims to transfer services out of hospital and into the community. The concern is that cuts in hospital care will be made, helping to achieve savings, but without proper investment in community health services.

A public consultation on the closure of Babington Hospital in Belper began at the end of February and is open until 1 April 2018. The consultation document and details of public events can be found here.

Stand-alone minor injuries units (MIU) or walk-in centres are likely to close or be integrated with other primary care facilities.

There is considerable overlap between Derbyshire's health system and neighbouring Staffordshire. Under Staffordshire's STP the A&E at Burton Hospital may be downgraded or forced to close and this will have implications for Derbyshire as the hospital serves a large part of South Derbyshire. In June 2017, the boards at Burton Hospitals Foundation Trust and Derby Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust approved the business case for a merger of the trusts. This could improve the sustainability of each hospital, including Burton's A&E department.

The number of beds lost will be 535. The acute sector will have 400 beds cut, and 85 will be lost in community hospitals, and a further 50 mental health beds. Put into the terms of wards, this is 12 acute wards cut, 4-5 community wards lost; and there will be 1-2 fewer specialist mental health wards and one fewer dementia care ward.

Newholme Hospital in Bakewell, Bolsover Hospital , and a ward at Whitworth hospital in Matlock are set for closure; others will either follow suit or be integrated into community hubs. Babington Hospital in Belper is set to close, with all existing services moving from the Babington Hospital site, including Belper Clinic, to a healthcare centre in the town. The new site will not have in-patient beds.

In July 2017, the North Derbyshire CCG together with other NHS bodies in Derbyshire agreed these changes and announced the setting up of a Better Care Closer to Home (BCCTH) implementation group to implement the ward and hospital closures and setting up of community services. Newholme Hospital in Bakewell, Bolsover Hospital, and a ward in Whitworth Hospital, Matlock are set for closure; others will either follow suit or be integrated into community hubs. Babington Hospital in Belper is set to close, with all existing services moving from the Babington Hospital site, including Belper Clinic, to  a healthcare centre in the town.

Major changes to the workforce are planned with a move to 2,500 more staff delivering care outside of the acute sector, around 10% of the current workforce.

Campaigners have launched a petition against the closure of Queen's Hospital, Burton's A&E and enlisted the support of local MP Andrew Griffiths.

There has been criticism about the planned closures of community hospital beds and eventually the closure of community hospitals at Bolsover and Newholme. Campaigners are concerned that the closures are taking place before adequate services have been set up in the community.

Campaigners, Belper Keep our NHS Public, are concerned that the closure of Babington Hospital in Belper will result in a reduction in services  and believe that the closure would break-up the “much-valued and highly-qualified” medical team. The new healthcare centre, although next to a new residential care home, would not have in-patient beds and patients who would previously have stayed will now have to go to Ripley Hospital or the more distant Ashbourne, Ilkeston or Chesterfield hospitals.