Health services in Lancashire and South Cumbria will face a projected £575m funding gap by 2021 unless extensive changes are made, a NHS report said.
It said steps must be taken to improve people’s health, make better use of existing resources, and unify health and social care provision.
Amanda Doyle, who led the work on the plan, said the region had some of the “poorest health in the country”.
Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron criticised the report as “vague”.
‘Person-centred’
The plan aims to “tackle life expectancy inequality” and make care “more person-centred and coordinated”, the report said.
It also intends to “relieve the financial pressures” on local NHS providers, partly by encouraging and supporting people to “assume greater responsibility for their own good health” and reducing “over reliance on acute hospital-based services”.
The report suggests “enhancing” the role of charity and voluntary organisations in supporting mainstream services.