How ICSs can benefit from a strategic, system-wide approach to social value

By Becky Jones

By Becky Jones, Social Value and Sustainability Lead, NHS Arden & GEM CSU

Creating healthier, more resilient communities and reducing our environmental impact are essential elements in delivering a more sustainable NHS. These ambitions are reflected in the four core aims assigned to integrated care systems (ICSs), which are: to improve outcomes in population health and healthcare; tackle inequalities; enhance productivity and value for money; and, support broader social and economic development.

The NHS has set an ambitious target to become net zero by 2040, while public bodies have had a legal responsibility to commit to the social, environmental and economic sustainability of their communities for many years. As a result, social value and environmental commitments are increasingly embedded in procurement and other legislative requirements. But how we translate these often-fragmented commitments into quantifiable achievements is less clear. Social value could have a major role to play in tackling our most pressing health and social care challenges, but this will require ICSs to adopt a more cohesive and proactive approach.

Seizing opportunities

Social value advocates for looking much more broadly at the wider determinants of health and considering how system partners can work together to achieve more for their communities. This holistic approach encompasses social, economic and environmental areas such as education, housing, work, crime and community services, and how these connect and contribute to the overall wellbeing of an area and its population.

Using population health data to inform priorities, system-wide collaboration gives health, public and voluntary sector organisations an important opportunity to develop a coordinated, strategic approach to delivering social value. This requires bringing the right mix of skills and disciplines together to identify programmes that will have the greatest impact, and mapping out the connections that need to be made for this to work. We know, for example, that poor quality housing can affect health. The health service could invest resources in treating a patient’s pneumonia only to discharge them back to their draughty or damp home, which is likely to cause a return to ill health.

Similarly, if a voluntary organisation runs activities to help tackle social isolation but people cannot afford the transport to get there, the initiative won’t achieve its aims, despite appearing on paper to meet population needs. Sharing information and planning interventions across system partners creates opportunities to break these vicious cycles and move towards disease prevention and wellness.

Agreeing priorities

Organisations will typically have specific activity, savings or outcome targets to meet, or be used to working in certain ways. This is where data can help identify common challenges and demonstrate the value of becoming more aligned. What are your staff surveys telling you about workforce priorities? What recruitment and retention pressures does your system face? Where are the gaps in your health provision? Which patients are driving demand, and which communities are you not reaching? Engaging effectively across your ICS, and with your patients and communities, will help determine priorities at system, place and organisational levels.

Some initiatives may be unique to individual organisations or communities but aligning them to a broader set of strategic priorities will make it easier to evaluate overall impact and share learning. In Coventry and Warwickshire ICS, for example, the ICB is taking a system-wide approach to tackling health inequalities, drawing on partners’ roles as anchor institutions to deliver social value across the region. The system is establishing a charter that aims to act as a framework, enabling each partner organisation to do what it needs to do to meet its own requirements, albeit contributing to a wider strategy to deliver a more proactive and sustainable health and care service. The charter aligns to the system’s long-term planning process while giving a specific approach to delivering social value through an overarching framework.

In Cheshire and Merseyside, the ICS developed a Social Value Charter which defines what social value means to them, using a coproduction approach that enabled system partners, voluntary organisations, the private sector and citizens to contribute. The Charter sets out the principles and approach signatories sign up to, including how social value will be measured using a Social Value Outcomes Framework.

Making suppliers part of the solution

Setting social value priorities helps organisations seek meaningful contributions from suppliers. To fulfil procurement requirements, bidders are commonly required to come up with social value initiatives and carbon reduction plans which tend to be silo projects that are difficult to monitor and manage. By inviting them to show how they would contribute to your existing social value priorities, your system can start to harness a collective contribution towards priority programmes which can be measured and evaluated against agreed criteria.

This means working with procurement colleagues much earlier in the commissioning process and challenging established ways of working that prioritise savings and lower cost contracts. If your system has prioritised paying a real living wage, for example, contracts need to be assessed not just for efficiency but for the long-term, wider benefits that may come with using suppliers that pay their staff well.

Measuring impact

Social value is not about quick wins but long-term sustainability. It requires taking a step back from continuous day-to-day pressures to consider initiatives that it may take us years to fully benefit from. This makes measurement even more important – we need to be able to see steps towards achieving sustainability goals, which in turn will lead to better, broader outcomes. NHS Arden & GEM has been working with the Social Value Portal to adapt their social value themes, outcomes and measures system (TOM system) for healthcare which incorporates five key themes:

Jobs – opportunity for all
Growth – inclusive growth
Social – empowering communities
Environment – safeguarding and restoring our world
Innovation – new ideas to deliver social value.

The TOM system is endorsed by the Local Government Association and maps to both major external frameworks and the Government Social Value Model. Using robust data, proxy values are applied to each objective and outcome which helps organisations convert their progress into a quantifiable value. Using consistent standards across systems enables more reliable assessment and benchmarking, which in turn will strengthen best practice and accelerate learning across regions.

Where to start

ICSs and their individual partner organisations will be at different stages of maturity and will have varying support needs. In recognition of this, NHS Arden & GEM has established a Social Value Network to encourage information-sharing and innovation across England, and a Future NHS social value workspace where organisations can access free resources. More recently, we have partnered with the Social Value Quality Mark CIC and the Social Value Portal to create the Social Value in Health Excellence Programme, providing independent assessment, support and monitoring to help organisations move successfully through their social value journey. This is not about adding to the to-do list, but about developing best practice in social value to help ICSs deliver the four core aims they are already tasked with.

Understanding and adopting a system-wide approach to social value has the potential to deliver significant strides towards preventative care but it’s not an overnight solution. Although today’s pressures must be tackled, it is equally important to build the knowledge and confidence needed to make long-term investments in social value that will improve community health and resilience in the long-term.

*Becky Jones, Social Value and Sustainability Lead, NHS Arden & GEM CSU*

Universal Care Plan breaks usage records with new integrations and sickle cell care plans

By Integrated Care Journal

More than 5,000 people with sickle cell disease now have a plan on the integrated care platform, covering nearly all of those receiving care for the disease in London.

The Universal Care Plan (UCP), OneLondon’s shared care planning solution powered by Better, has in the last year integrated with the NHS National Record Locator (NRL) and the NHS App, while also extending the care plan support for people with sickle cell disease.

These latest developments within the solution, which spans five integrated care boards across the whole of London and has recently marked two years of existence, are helping to further integrate care, improve patient outcomes, and drive up engagement, in some cases at record-breaking levels.

Introduction of sickle cell care plans

Expanding the UCP to support individuals with sickle cell disease is an important step, following the No One’s Listening report, calling for major changes in sickle cell care. Sickle cell disease affects approximately 15,000 people in the UK. Approximately 60 per cent of people diagnosed with the disease have their treatment in London. With symptoms ranging from anaemia to severe pain episodes known as sickle cell crisis, managing this condition effectively requires comprehensive care planning and prompt treatment interventions.

Since the launch of the care plans, 5,000 people with the disease now have a plan on the integrated care platform, meaning the service is close to supporting everyone who is cared for in the capital.

“I think this is a real game changer for people with sickle cell disease,” said Nick Tigere, Head of the UCP Programme. “They are now able to confidently seek the medical attention they need while in crisis, knowing fully that the services they attend, wherever they attend in London, will be aware of consolidated key information on diagnosis, symptom management, and treatment options.

“Supporting healthcare professionals with immediate access to this critical information is facilitating timely interventions and improved care. It really has been transformative for people’s care pathway.”

National Record Locator integration

With the new National Record Locator (NRL) integration in place, London and out-of-London urgent care services are now able to view a UCP en route to responding to a patient in need. This means that a patient’s care plan, particularly their symptom management requirements, can be delivered immediately as the paramedics make contact with the patient, even when they are away from London. Following the go-live, the number of plans accessed by the Ambulance Service has increased by 20 per cent due to the increased access the integration is providing.

The NRL is an NHS service that allows health and care professionals to find and access patient information shared by other health and care organisations across England to support the direct care of a patient.

NHS App integration

Patients can now also access their UCP in the NHS App, which is another step towards putting patients at the heart of their care planning. It means patients can easily share their plans with healthcare professionals as they move around London and across the rest of the country.
In an emergency, patients may not be able to articulate or communicate their wishes and preferences, in which case they can defer to showing clinicians the plan on the app. The increased accessibility is also empowering patients to take a more active role in managing their information and ensuring it is up to date.

In four months, the app has seen 20,000 jump-offs to care plans, and if a plan isn’t in place, it’s helping to initiate conversations with clinicians to create one, which is in turn contributing to an increase in overall care plans created. During July, the service celebrated a record-breaking 4,200 care plans being generated on the platform.

Concluding on the new integrations and sickle cell care plans, Nick Tigere added: “The UCP platform has become a well-established tool for health and care professionals and is helping to ensure people have their care wishes and preferences respected. Our role is to enable all parts of the system to quickly access relevant patient information at the right place and right time. I am proud that we continue to enable this for people and our health services with these latest developments.”

Darren Ransley, Managing Director UK & Ireland at Better, said: “By expanding access to patient data through the NHS National Record Locator and NHS App, we are advancing interoperability and making healthcare data available anywhere, anytime. These integrations mark a significant step forward in delivering person-centred care and ensuring equitable access to healthcare services.

“By leveraging innovative technology and a person-centred approach, the UCP continues to redefine care delivery standards, setting a new benchmark for integrated healthcare solutions.”

At the end of 2024, the UCP will be transformed into a personalised care and support plan with the introduction of new forms and data fields to create a richer picture of the person receiving care. The new information will cover the PRSB ‘About Me’ standard, living arrangements, medical devices, communication and accessibility requirements, and daily activities and support needs.

Social care monitoring tech could free up two million bed days and save over £1.2bn for the NHS, new report finds

By Integrated Care Journal

New report highlights major potential of lifestyle monitoring technology to address immediate system-wide crisis across health and social care, finding that thousands could avoid hospitalisation from earlier detection of illness, avoiding more expensive residential care.

The NHS could save more than £1.2 billion through widespread use of new non-intrusive lifestyle monitoring technology in social care according to a new independent report. More than two million hospital bed days could be saved, and the extra capacity created in social care able to fund the equivalent of 10,000 additional full-time carers in the system by 2035.

These findings are part of new analysis commissioned by health-tech company Lilli to make the case for urgent digitisation across the health and social care sector. The report uses data from multiple local authorities across the UK who are currently using the AI-driven monitoring technology to address the growing care deficit and mounting social care crisis.

Entitled From passive to proactive: How monitoring technology can help to solve the health and social care crisis, the report follows recent social care promises from the new government to accelerate the adoption of technology in health and care and highlights the ‘domino effect’ that proactive monitoring employed in social care can have not just on council resources but also the NHS and patient outcomes.

It identifies hospital discharge as a key area that can see a significant impact from the technology. Earlier discharge would amount to 2.3 million additional bed days and almost £1.2bn in savings for the NHS, due to reduced costs of providing beds for patients over the next ten years – enough to pay the salaries of 2,000 nurses over the period. It would also lead to better health outcomes for the many thousands of people experiencing delayed discharge every day, with extended stays linked to higher risk of infections, adverse drug reactions and readmissions to hospital.

The report also finds that adopting monitoring technology now would save councils £3bn by 2035 by supporting people to live independently at home for longer and preventing thousands of people entering more expensive care settings, such as residential care. The productivity benefits would help to address the workforce crisis in care, by generating additional capacity equivalent to 94 million hours of carer time across the UK, or to having 10,000 extra care workers. These productivity benefits would be worth an estimated £1.8bn to councils, allowing vital resources to be redistributed to where they are most needed.

Lifestyle monitoring technology works by tracking patterns of behaviour and key indicators of health, such as movement, eating and bathroom activity, and alerting carers to any changes. This allows care professionals to quickly make accurate care assessments, and safely monitor people’s health at home remotely, while being on the front foot to proactively spot signs of health decline before conditions require hospital treatment. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) have been identified as a key area where monitoring technology can help prevent hospital admissions, and the report estimates that the NHS could make savings of £1.8m each year through reduced hospital admissions from UTIs, due to earlier intervention, which could pay for half a million hours of nursing time.

Rebecca Andrew, Service Improvement Manager from Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “The rollout of remote monitoring technology across Nottinghamshire allows our social care staff access to real time data, giving insights into a person’s behaviour over a period of time. This helps them to build a clear picture of what is going on in a person’s life and draw their attention to any potential change in their social care needs. This ensures we can put appropriate care and support in place that is personalised to the individual, and respond quickly to prevent crises, meaning fewer ambulance call outs and hospital admissions.”

According to the report, produced by economists at Policy Points, “there is strong evidence that lifestyle monitoring technology can generate essential, big-ticket savings for both the NHS and for social care, creating a digital dividend by protecting scarce hospital resources at the same time as boosting the productivity of carers”.

Kelly Hudson, Chief Executive Officer at Lilli, said: “Right now, the people who need care are not getting the help that they should, and the problem will only get worse as the population ages. The numbers in this report speak for themselves. The savings and productivity figures highlight the profound difference that an investment in technology now would have not just on the system but on the lives of people up and down the country.”

Lifestyle monitoring technology from Lilli is currently being used by multiple councils across the UK, including Islington, Nottingham and Reading, to enable people to live safely and independently at home.

The report goes on to explain how over the next ten years, the older population will ‘grow by millions’, increasing demand for its services, and for the health and care system to be sustainable, a commitment to overhauling the system at pace and scale is urgently needed. The alternative is a broken system that will continue to be reactive and is unable to meet the care needs of those who need it most.

Kelly Hudson adds: “We are supportive of the new Health Secretary’s ambition for a ‘different politics on social care’ and we urge the new government to tackle the current crisis proactively as they have pledged, by addressing the root cause of the issue. We are urgently calling for more support for the sector to adopt a technology led approach to better support the people in need, reduce wasted costs and deliver better outcomes.”

From fragmentation to integration: Lessons for the NHS from New Zealand

By Gabriel Blaazer

When David Meates became CEO of New Zealand’s Canterbury District Health Board in 2009, he took charge of a system that was “broken and fragmented”. 11 years later, the system’s fortunes were transformed. At a recent event, Meates shared his experiences and lessons from Canterbury’s transformation, offering vital insight for the NHS as it continues its own journey from fragmentation to integration.

On 14th August, Public Policy Projects (PPP) held a dinner for a group of carefully selected stakeholders to share lessons from international and devolved nations on the delivery of integrated care. Speaking to the assembled guests was David Meates, who, while current interim CEO of Rowing NZ, was CEO of New Zealand’s Canterbury District Health Board (DHB) from 2009-2020. During his tenure, Canterbury DHB undertook an ambitious series of reforms aimed at integrating the fragmented elements of the health service, which turned the ailing system into one of the most integrated health systems anywhere in the world.

Many of the issues Canterbury faced have parallels within the NHS, and as such, it provides valuable lessons for UK health and care transformation. Prior to Meates’ arrival, Christchurch Hospital (the district’s largest) was regularly ‘gridlocked’ due to a shortage of beds, while a fragmented system and growing demand for services were damaging staff morale and the system’s ability to deliver effective healthcare.

Meates took charge of Canterbury DHB in 2009, and noted that by 2007, leaders had already realised the system was unsustainable and needed change. He described it as “broken and fragmented”, siloed by profession, dominated by providers and lacking clear purpose. Exponential increases in funding over preceding years had led to little-to-no improvement in service delivery, productivity or patient outcomes.

Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand

Without reform, the system would have required another 600-bed hospital, a 23 per cent increase in GP practices, 2,000 more aged care beds, and 9,000 additional healthcare professionals (HCPs), simply to meet demand. Meates remarked that even with the necessary funds, the workforce to do this was simply not available. What was needed, Meates determined, was a new blueprint for delivering healthcare to Canterbury’s more than half a million residents, as well as a burning platform that would inspire substantial change.

First steps: identifying the vision

Much of Canterbury DHB’s early work – under the umbrella of Project 2020 – focused on understanding the shared challenges that affect large and complex systems in other sectors, and how these insights could be applied to a healthcare environment. One key initiative was Xceler8, an eight-week experiential leadership development programme that involved 1,500 doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals from across the Canterbury system. Participants, convened in cross-disciplinary groups, spent time with leaders in other sectors to understand their challenges. At the end of the programme, these groups presented ideas for system improvements to a chief executive, with some being subsequently implemented. Beyond the positive changes this brought about, the programme also helped to embed principles of system thinking among the workforce and demonstrated that each part of the system has a role to play in broader system improvement.

Other programmes included Particip8 (a six-week night-school course focusing on change management techniques), and Collabor8 (a short course focusing on skills management).

These programmes also sought to familiarise staff members with Lean and Six Sigma methodologies – prioritising customer value and continuous improvement – as well as chaos theory – the idea that beneath the apparent randomness of complex systems, there are underlying patterns and constant feedback loops that can be quantified, measured and understood.

Through these initiatives, system leaders began identifying commonalities and principles that extended beyond traditional approaches to healthcare system transformation, such as the concept of ‘value.’ While ‘value’ in other sectors might refer to profit or market capitalisation, it was determined that in a healthcare context, creating ‘value’ could be understood as not wasting patients’, and by extension, the system’s, time. This realisation led to the establishment of three strategic goals, forming a framework for “a connected system, centred around people, that aimed not to waste their time”.

People take greater responsibility for their own health
Prioritising the development of services that support people and families to stay well and take increased responsibility for their own health and wellbeing.
People stay well in their own homes and communities
Prioritising the development of primary care and community services to support people and families in community-based settings, close to home, and to provide a point of ongoing contact and continuity – for most, this is in general practice.
People receive timely and appropriate care
Enabling the freeing-up of hospital-based specialist resources which can be responsive to episodic events and the provision of complex care and specialist advice to primary care.

These initiatives also led to a realisation that regardless of how fragmented a system may seem, all components form part of the same ecosystem. Shuffling patients around to meet ‘activity’ targets benefits the system little, whereas prioritising the patient’s best interests—minimising their time spent while achieving the best possible outcomes—benefits both the patients and the entire system. This insight gave rise to the principle of “One system: One budget”, which became the foundation for all subsequent reforms within Canterbury DHB.

One system: One budget

These guiding principles informed the first series of practical changes that Canterbury DHB implemented to better integrate the system and create better value both for patients and the wider system.

A crucial development was the creation of the community-based HealthPathways, aimed at improving the interface between secondary and primary care. This programme was initiated by clinicians who, after reviewing a backlog of referrals, identified that many common issues could have been prevented through better communication between hospitals and primary care providers. General practitioners and hospital specialists were then brought together to agree on optimal management and referral pathways for specific conditions. These pathways were subsequently presented to larger groups of hospital doctors, GPs, nurses, and HCPs for their input. Meates reflected on the traction that HealthPathways was gaining as an approach in the Northern hemisphere, with systems in England and Wales adopting the methodology as the operating system for their integrated systems.

A key lesson from Project 2020, as Meates has argued, is that “too often, we confuse activity with progress,” a criticism frequently directed at the NHS’s Payment by Results tariff system. To better align incentives across the Canterbury system, this approach was abandoned in favour of the newly established Canterbury Health System Outcomes Framework. This change supported the principle of “One System: One Budget,” ensuring that the various components of the system would now be rewarded for achieving the best outcomes for the system or the patient, rather than merely moving patients around and being compensated for this ‘activity.’

Another change was the establishment of the Canterbury Clinical Network – a collaborative of HCPs, health system users and cross-sector partners using a principles-based framework to decide how, when and where health services are provided. These principles included taking a whole systems approach to ensure the integration and sustainability of services, ensuring that people and communities were at the centre of any changes, enabling clinically led service development, and the system operating within its financial means. Crucially, while commissioners were involved, their role was to support the process and then work out how to realise the objectives, not to prescribe the objectives themselves.

An important step towards service integration was also made by the establishment of a connected data platform – HealthOne – an electronic shared care record combining GP, hospital and community pharmacy records, along with laboratory and imaging results. Since this was not replacing existing systems, but drawing on them, its implementation was relatively non-disruptive and enabled the scope of the records to be increased over time. Citizens could opt out of all or part of the system, with the process led by the system’s Consumer Council, while regular “dynamic” automated privacy audits ensured that patient privacy was always prioritised.

Reflections

In reflecting on Canterbury DHB’s transformation journey, Meates was wary of simplistic quick fixes to complex, systemic problems, and the importance of taking a holistic and long-term approach with any proposed solutions. “You need a whole system to work for the whole system to work – focusing on part of the system will not effect the change required,” he told the assembled guests. Considering this, during its transformation Canterbury DHB paid special attention to the language it used to refer to the system and its workforce, emphasising the use of “we” in official communications, and deliberately halting the use of language which went counter to the narrative of a single system.

The principles of integration and collaboration must also be reflected in the redesign of services and pathways by actively involving relevant stakeholders and ensuring their voices are heard. Meates emphasised that “change happens at the speed of trust,” which requires meaningful engagement with frontline teams, as well as input from the clinicians who will deliver the services and the communities who will use them.

Meates also cautioned that in any large-scale system transformation, facilitating cultural change among the people involved is as crucial as any change in process or structure. With the introduction of integrated care systems and their emphasis on collaboration over competition (a significant departure from the previous way of commissioning services), this is a point the NHS could do well to acknowledge. “You can’t expect the same people that have worked in a competitive environment and who have seen their success tied to the success of their organisation to suddenly collaborate,” said Meates. This is a case of both instilling that necessary cultural change, but also of facilitating systems to be collaborative, such as by realigning incentives towards system outcomes as opposed to individual organisational sustainability.

The cultural dimension is also highly relevant to funding issues, as “too often, these involve win/lose discussions” where different parts of a system manage their activity levels to safeguard their budgets and maintain status within the broader system. While outcomes-based remuneration is undoubtedly a key solution, it is equally important to embrace the idea that the best outcome for patients is also the best outcome for the system and its individual components.

On a practical level, Meates emphasised that although reforming contracts can be the most challenging area, it is perhaps the most critical. Contracts significantly limit what healthcare providers can do and how they operate, making them essential enablers of any strategic change. “While the goal is integration,” Meates argued, this is undermined if “existing contracts and reporting requirements continue to move in the opposite direction. Contracts give you all the reasons why you can’t change what you are doing.”

Conclusions for the NHS

The transformative journey of Canterbury DHB under David Meates offers critical insights for the NHS as it continues its transitions towards integrated care. The success of Canterbury’s reforms, driven by a commitment to collaboration, system-wide integration, and a focus on patient-centred outcomes, illustrates the importance of addressing systemic fragmentation holistically. According to Meates, people in Canterbury were “30 percent less likely to be admitted medically unwell compared with the rest of New Zealand” because of these reforms.

Canterbury DHB’s experience shows that applying process and quality improvement techniques like Lean and Six Sigma to complex systems such as healthcare is no simple task; it demands a long-term vision and strong commitment from leadership to act. For too long, the NHS has been consumed by day-to-day pressures, and the introduction of ICSs has not been accompanied by the necessary cultural changes that can only clear, top-down strategic direction can bring.

Additionally, while the NHS has sought to place greater emphasis on citizen-centred care, it still often fails to adequately engage marginalised communities and provide co-designed, holistic care services that meet their needs. The establishment of community diagnostic centres is certainly a positive step in this regard, more needs to be done to ensure that these services are accessible and tailored to the unique challenges faced by marginalised and underserved groups. This includes overcoming language barriers, addressing cultural sensitivities and ensuring that services are easily reachable for those most in need. Citizen-centred care required continuous engagement with these communities, fostering trust and enabling them to have an active role in shaping their own health outcomes.

Key lessons from Canterbury DHB include prioritising cultural change, realigning incentives to emphasise system-wide benefits, ongoing community and patient engagement and leveraging technology like shared care records to enhance communication across care settings. By adopting these principles, the NHS can achieve meaningful, sustainable reforms that deliver value for both patients and the wider healthcare system.

Labour urged to support and protect NHS’ temporary healthcare workforce

By Integrated Care Journal

The UK’s temporary healthcare workforce needs championing and protecting, suggests the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), as it launches its people-first ‘Voice of the Worker’ campaign.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) is urging the government to champion the UK’s temporary healthcare workforce, with the launch of it’s people-first ‘Voice of the Worker’ campaign.

The campaign comes as the new government is pushing on with its Employment Rights Bill within its first 100 days in power.

The move has sparked robust debate regarding recruitment and employment, because highly regulated agency work already offers employment rights and in-work progression. There are fears that anticipated changes to employment rules could put the temporary worker market at risk.

Further, the new government’s launch of Skills England will also create more opportunities for temporary and contract workers to upskill as the Apprenticeship Levy is reformed. Although not confirmed, the government is expected to expand the Apprenticeship Levy into a ‘Growth and Skills Levy’, allowing companies to use 50 per cent of their levy contributions to fund training via routes other than apprenticeships.

Temporary healthcare work is key in helping the NHS deal with disparate and fluctuating demand, and with the right regulations in place, enable workers greater flexibility in work and control over their work-life balance.

Neil Carberry, REC Chief Executive, said: “Flexibility at work is something to feel optimistic about. It is working for millions of people. Individual choice and employers’ need for a versatile workforce can be brought together to deliver better careers and higher productivity. The government must ensure new rules support temps and that means having a real understanding of their lives.”

REC’s campaign aims to show how and why temping can work for many individuals by placing the real-life stories of temps, including those working in healthcare, at its heart. The campaign urges government, employers and unions to collaborate more closely to support the UK’s growing temporary workforce.

For the campaign, REC commissioned Whitestone Insight to interview 520 temp agency workers across different sectors – not just health – in Britain in June 2024, to hear their thoughts about agency work and why it matters to them. Polling found:

Almost eight in 10 temp agency workers (79 per cent) said their work provides an important need for flexibility.
More than two thirds of temp agency workers (68 per cent) said that their work provides a greater work-life balance.
More than half of temp agency workers (53 per cent) believed that this is the right kind of role for their current stage in life – an active choice.

REC says it hopes its ‘Voice of the Worker’ campaign will prompt far more discussion about reform of the public sector, with public services clearly struggling with demand. Temporary workers are critical in enabling the NHS to deliver services, helping to retain skilled people in the workforce and provide solutions to NHS trusts. But NHS policies for frameworks and banks have reduced the attraction of working for the NHS for medical staff – and forced trusts to use more and more emergency shifts. By reforming frameworks, their rates and the approach taken to permanent staffing, the new government could reduce costs and get better results for patients and the Treasury. But a proper partnership is needed to achieve this, the REC argues.

Neil Carberry added: “Government has repeatedly made the same mistakes in NHS staffing for almost a decade – trying to pay agency staff less year-on-year than they pay substantive staff. And pretending that Banks are cheaper to the exchequer. The result of this is that there are more emergency shifts as medics reject shifts, and spending overall has gone up. Moving on from demonising agency nurses and doctors and other clinicians – and the agencies that supply them – and working in partnership with the sector on a new approach to procurement will give the new government a unique opportunity to build a sustainable supply of short-term staff, at high quality and value for both patient and taxpayer.

“Good and lasting workforce changes that are effective for workers and employers, happen when employers and government work together to determine what works for everyone. Our case studies show the difference talented agency and contract staff are already making in our health service.”

This autumn, the REC will highlight video and written case studies of temporary workers, in which they explain the reasons for wanting flexibility and the benefits of temp working, across a variety of sectors.

Labour needs a preventative health strategy to transform public health

By Tina Woods

Business for Health Founder and CEO, Tina Woods, discusses the crucial role that business can play in improving the nation’s health, and calls on the Labour government to adopt a shift towards evidence-based prevention.

As the new Labour Government enters its early stages in power, it is increasingly clear that the party has inherited a sick workforce, rising levels of economic inactivity and unsustainable pressure on the NHS.

Tackling our current broken health system requires a long-term, multifaceted approach that shifts the UK’s societal attitude from reliance on the NHS to a culture of prevention. Going forward, creating a comprehensive preventative health strategy should be Labour’s focus.

Laying the foundations for a ‘prevention first’ revolution

Labour’s Health Mission in their manifesto states the aim to “deliver a ‘prevention first’ revolution”, and with the right partners and a clear strategy, this vision can become a reality.

While the ambition to halve heart attacks and strokes, create a smoke-free generation, and reduce health inequality are commendable, translating these goals into tangible policy and action will be crucial.

A preventative health strategy must go beyond individual behaviour change and address the wider determinants of health. This includes creating healthy environments, reforming the food system, and ensuring good work and housing for all. Crucially, it requires coordinated action across government departments, and wider businesses.

Easing pressures on hospitals

The UK’s poor public health is placing immense pressure on the NHS, resulting in many hospitals having far too many patients, with far too long waiting lists.

Despite over 95 per cent of the NHS budget being spent on treatment, with little ring-fenced for prevention, preventable conditions like obesity, heart disease, and lung cancer account for a significant proportion of hospital admissions and healthcare costs.

The government should set a target to allocate a specific percentage of the total health budget to evidence-based prevention programmes within 5 years, rising by 2030. Moving more pathways of care into community health will alleviate pressure on hospitals and create a more sustainable healthcare system. To support in setting and managing these targets, Business for Health has partnered with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to deliver an enhanced ONS Health Index which will be vital in tracking against the Government’s health and wellbeing plans.

Business is essential in prevention

Alongside the NHS, businesses also have a crucial role to play in this agenda, and the Labour government must work to cultivate meaningful partnerships with the private sector.

By creating incentives and frameworks for improving health, small and medium-sized enterprises can be encouraged to do more; exploring legislation, such as making workplace health reporting mandatory for larger companies, is another driver. To support businesses in creating these strategies, the next iteration of the ONS Health Index will include additional data and tools which businesses will be able to use to understand the health of their workforce and customers better.

Looking ahead, business leaders and employees alike will be eager to see legislation and clear targets from the Labour government, accompanied by investment to support a prevention economy. Businesses are essential partners in creating healthy workplaces, promoting active lifestyles, and tackling issues like obesity and mental ill-health.

A prescription for the future

Ultimately, Labour’s health agenda must move beyond short-term fixes and invest in long-term system change. This will require bold political leadership, a willingness to tackle vested interests, and a collaborative, cross-party approach bringing together government, business, communities and individuals. Only then can we build a healthier, more prosperous future for the nation.

*Tina Woods, CEO and Founder, Business for Health*

ONS and Business for Health partner to enhance the ONS Health Index

By Integrated Care Journal

The Index will capture a wide range of health inputs, including wider societal and economic determinants, to fill the evidence gap on the interplay between health, business and work and encourage businesses to take responsibility for their impacts on health.

Business for Health and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have announced a collaboration to develop the next iteration of the ONS Health Index – a tool to support businesses, local authorities, integrated care boards, and government on decisions to ‘invest for health and economic growth’ and inform the Treasury on the economic case for prevention.

The ONS Health Index, last published in summer 2023, measures health in its broadest terms and seeks to understand how it is changing over time. It tracks health in clinical terms (i.e. the prevalence of certain conditions), but also looks at the wider social, economic and environmental drivers of health, together with personal circumstances.

Building on these measures, the enhanced ONS Health Index will include additional data and tools relevant to businesses and their practices. These could range from capturing direct health impacts on employees and customers, to environmental impacts of a company’s products. This will increase the understanding of the interplay between health and business and work life and fill an important evidence gap. For example, it could be used at a local level to help measure corporate progress against key health and wellbeing aims.

More broadly, the additional business themed metrics will inform strategies around the link between health and wellbeing and workforce productivity, and the role of health within the Environmental Social and Governance discussion.

Business for Health, a business-led social venture, in collaboration with Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP), have identified demand from businesses and organisations for the continuation and enhancement of this tool to define their role in the economy and wider society.

They will engage with businesses to develop the next iteration of the Index that provides high-value data on the health and well-being of the nation, including the workforce. One of the key goals will be to encourage businesses to understand and take responsibility for their impacts on health. To this end, the next iteration of the ONS Health Index will seek to bring businesses into its core audiences and provide health-relevant data to the public that measures the impact of businesses on population health.

These additional data will aim to highlight key determinants influencing employee health, and in doing so, inform business decision-making and support organisational and corporate culture with health at its core.

With the UK’s general population currently facing significant health challenges, leading to long term economic inactivity and pressures on the health system, the enhancement of the ONS Health Index will enable focus on facilitating system change to improve health and wealth outcomes. This is vital for enhancing the health and economic resilience of the nation.

Tina Woods, CEO and Founder of Business for Health, said: “There is a clear need from businesses to receive better data on the role of health within wider workforce planning. The link between corporate culture and individuals’ physical and mental wellbeing is irrefutable and our role on the new ONS Health Index will act as a crucial tool in understanding how businesses can improve, report and measure their impact on health linked to economic growth.”

Lord Bethell, Former Health and Innovation Minister and Chair of Business for Health, said: “We are delighted to be working with the ONS and LCP to develop the next iteration of the ONS Health Index, which will differentiate itself by allowing companies to understand and define their social purpose alongside measuring their economic contribution.”

Jonathan Pearson Stuttard, Head of Health Analytics at LCP, said: “There is a need for employers, businesses and industry partners to work collaboratively with the government to ensure that long-term health challenges are tackled with the urgency that is required.”

Dr James Tucker, Deputy Director of Health, International and Partnerships, Office for National Statistics, said: “The importance of high-quality data to inform strategies and reporting on the health of our workforce is crucial. Working with businesses as core users of the next ONS Health Index will be key in accessing granular data from businesses to feed into the index and provide relevant health data.

Harnessing innovation to deliver medicines optimisation at scale

By Meera Parkash

In this case study, Meera Parkash, Clinical Facilitator, Population Health Management at Optum UK, discusses how medicines optimisation can help free up pharmacy capacity and deliver key improvements to population health management.

At a time when the health system is urgently seeking new ways to cut costs, improve outcomes and reduce health inequalities, there are three areas where medicines optimisation can make an important contribution.

The first is non-adherence to medicines. It is estimated that half of all patients are non-adherent to their prescribed medication, costing the NHS £500m every year. The second concerns over-ordering and over-prescribing. About £300m worth of medicines go unused each year, and around half of this cost is believed to be recoverable. The third and final relates to adverse drug events (ADEs) in primary care, leading to hospital admissions. An estimated 72 per cent of ADEs are avoidable, costing the NHS £100m every year.

Traditionally, clinicians have had to manually search for patients who may need changes to their medication approach. This is extremely time-consuming and may not always be accurate if the data being used is out of date.

Population360® changes this. By integrating fully with clinical systems, it automatically finds and presents opportunities to improve medication safety, non-adherence and cost-effectiveness all in one place – transforming the speed, accuracy and scale of these processes.

Other prescribing decision support tools focus mainly on acute prescriptions and can only process them one patient at a time, whereas Population360 can proactively manage an entire patient population for an ICS at once. It does this by providing safety and adherence alerts for high-risk cases while surfacing lists of patients who may benefit from medication changes.

In light of resourcing pressures on pharmacy teams – which limit the number of structured medication reviews, programme switches, or high-risk drugs monitoring they can undertake using traditional methods – Population360 frees up capacity and helps them cover more ground. This demonstrates that it can be an important enabler for delivering medicines optimisation strategies at scale.

Evidence of success

Working with a GP practice covering 10,000 patients, Population360 flagged opportunities to save £82,376 through simple medication switches and recommended 1,171 patients for an adherence or safety intervention over a three-month period.

Based on these, a single pharmacy technician successfully reviewed 16 patients in less than 30 minutes, actively booking tests for 14 patients and initiating a patient consultation and de-prescribe for another.

Another pharmacist reviewed all female patients prescribed sodium valproate based on a targeted clinical rule. The pharmacist contacted patients, reminding them to follow up with their consultant to ensure Annual Risk Acknowledgement Forms were up to date (most of which were not) and contraception was in place.

Both examples demonstrate clinicians working proactively, supporting structured medication reviews, and closing important gaps in care.

The lead pharmacist at the GP surgery said: “It (Population360) gives us these patients very, very quickly and we can review them and take appropriate action – some of these patients are hard to reach people which is also an advantage.”

To see how Optum advances medicines optimisation (MO) and to learn more about proactive prescribing at scale, please click here.

Optum is a registered trademark of Optum, Inc. in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Because we are continuously improving our products and services, Optum reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. Optum is an equal opportunity employer.
© 2024 Optum, Inc. All rights reserved.

News, Population Health, Thought Leadership July 8, 2024

Vic Townshend: ‘Whole person’ understanding is reliant on intelligence-informed decisions

By Ameneh Saatchi

Vic Townshend, Programme Director for Population Health Management (PHM) at Lincolnshire ICS, speaks with Public Policy Projects’ Ameneh Saatchi.

Building capacity and capability for population health management (PHM) is perhaps one of the single most significant enablers of truly integrated care and ambitions for England’s 42 integrated care systems (ICSs). But while every ICS will place significant priority on establishing comprehensive PHM, immediate service pressures and restricted resources have led to mixed results across the country.

In Lincolnshire, the ICS has established the Lincolnshire ICS Population Health Management Programme, which uses a ground-breaking person-level linked dataset, recognised as one of the most extensive in the country. The Lincolnshire Joined Intelligence Dataset covers 100 per cent of the local GP registered population. It encompasses a range of data sources, including primary and secondary care, adult social care, elective waiting lists, deprivation indices, social vulnerability and isolation measures from the Office for National Statistics, Census data, and community asset registers.

This initiative originated with the NHS England sponsored Population Health Management development programme, which allowed for the system to test what PHM offered and supported the first linked dataset to be created for a proportion of the county’s population. Other systems do have linked datasets, but there are none currently known that have the same extent of sources and population coverage.

“I worked closely with the Director of Intelligence and Analytics [Katy Hardwick],” says Vic, explaining that the team entered a partnership with Optum UK, to build the first ever linked data set in 2019, which initially covered about 30 per cent of the population. “This gave us data joined at the personal level, allowing us to see a person’s journey through health and ill-health and how they interacted with services across Lincolnshire to support their needs.”

The data science tool employed by Lincolnshire ICS focuses primarily on measuring health and care utilisation across different contexts, emphasising unit of activity and associated indicative costs. Traditional metrics, such as length of stay are incorporated, offering a comprehensive view of resource utilisation. Moreover, the tool’s versatility allows for customised presentations of intelligence, enabling users to tailor insights to their specific needs. Insights into health inequalities are facilitated by comparing cohorts of individuals, shedding light on variation in outcomes and contributing to high quality decision-making.

In addition to traditional metrics and the sources listed above, the Lincolnshire dataset also encompasses prescribing and medicines utilisation data, facilitating a holistic, system-wide understanding of health and care activities, service utilisation and outcomes. The dataset captures activity from all community, acute and mental health services, drawing from data recorded in trusts’ National Minimum Data Sets. This ensures seamless integration of data, irrespective of where individuals receive treatment – even if that treatment is outside of Lincolnshire ICS.

In healthcare, intelligence-informed decision-making stands as a crucial factor in navigating complex systems effectively. Vic emphasises the importance of this approach, highlighting how linked data allows for a comprehensive understanding of the impact of interventions across healthcare settings.

“The linked data set allows us to identify where opportunities are for intervention and change [and] where we’re doing well,” Vic explains. “What it doesn’t tell us is what we should do with it, but it starts to prompt leaders to ask the right questions… there’s nobody in our system that just has diabetes, which brings into question why we are providing services for diabetics in silo when they have more than one long-term condition and are subject to many other wider determinants of health, such as deprivation.”

This enhanced visibility helps stakeholders to identify both direct and indirect benefits and drawbacks of interventions, leading to better-informed decisions.

“The linked data set allows intelligence-informed decision-making, [meaning] we can now see the impact of our actions across our organisational borders and identify indirect benefits and disbenefits. So, we can track how changes in general practice are improving outcomes across other services, or vice versa.”

The inclusion of indicative costing within the linked data set also provides insights into resource allocation and workforce interactions. This allows for a more subtle understanding of how resources are utilised within the healthcare system, facilitating efficient resource management and optimisation.

Evaluation plays a pivotal role in assessing the effectiveness of interventions and changes in healthcare delivery. Vic underscores the necessity of robust evaluation, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative measures. However, Vic also acknowledges the challenge of maintaining the usability of the linked dataset while incorporating qualitative elements, emphasising the need for flexibility in its development and usage.

“Intelligence-informed decision-making becomes your North Star; you’re all following the same intelligence that steers in the same direction, wherever you work within the system. It has allowed us to robustly evaluate qualitative and quantitative outcomes, so it’s not just about what we can measure in the dataset, but working with personalisation, understanding what outcomes are important to people.”

Overall, the linked data set serves as a valuable tool for identifying opportunities for intervention and making informed decisions that lead to improved outcomes for patient and wider health system.

Vic’s journey into PHM stems from a diverse background, transitioning from the RAF as a meteorology officer, to a decade in general management in healthcare, to change management in complex systems. A keen interest in data analysis has been the nexus between various positions throughout her career.

More recently, Vic has begun addressing performance improvement challenges in healthcare, focusing on the interconnectedness of prescribing practices and care pathways. As Director of the Population Health Management programme in Lincolnshire ICS, she emphasises the need for comprehensive, intelligence-informed decision-making in healthcare leadership, seeing it as pivotal for driving systemic change and improving outcomes. For Vic, PHM represents a transformative tool with the potential to fundamentally change healthcare systems and improve outcomes for all.

The inequality challenge

Intelligence Leads and Chief Analysts working within ICSs will have increasingly important roles in navigating the complexities of health inequalities. Such roles require skill sets that can play a crucial role in generating intelligence to inform various inquiries regarding clinical care outcomes, health and wellbeing, and wider determinants of health. By fostering relationships with them, healthcare professionals can gain access to previously untapped data sets or intelligence that can address longstanding questions or concerns.

While population health itself is not a new concept, the current level of focus being placed on PHM requires significant new infrastructure support, the need for which may not yet be universally recognised within individual health systems. Therefore, she advises initiating discussions with intelligence teams to explore existing available data and infrastructure.

Vic stresses the importance of incorporating intelligence specialists or analysts into discussions alongside clinicians and decision-makers. This tripartite arrangement ensures that data-driven insights inform decision-making processes effectively, leading to more informed and impactful strategy.

Wound care from the lens of population health management

Vic underscores several key priorities essential for improving Wound Care outcomes:

Consistent documentation on electronic systems

Vic emphasises the importance of developing consistent documentation of wound care activities on electronic systems across frontline services and at strategic level. This consistency ensures accurate data collection that is crucial, not only for clinical records, but also for evidence-based decision-making and outcome evaluation. This is something Lincolnshire ICS will be working to develop further, as Vic identifies a challenge in ensuring consistency across local teams to capture all necessary data for wound care. Addressing this challenge is fundamental for systems to improve efficiency and workforce challenges in the community but may require additional resources and strategies to improve documentation practices.

Personalised care approach

Vic discusses the need to personalise wound care, highlighting that different individuals may require different approaches based on their specific needs and preferences for self-care. This personalised approach ensures that care is tailored to everyone’s circumstances, improving overall outcomes.

Training and applying best practices

Ensuring that clinical teams involved in wound care across various organisations are trained in, and consistently utilise, best practices. This helps standardise care delivery with the aim of adhering to established standards and protocols and improves overall quality of care.

Evaluation and continuous improvement

Establishing mechanisms for evaluating the effectiveness of changes made in wound care practices and processes. This iterative approach to improvement allows for ongoing refinement and optimisation of care delivery. This involves identifying what works, what doesn’t, and adjusting accordingly to continuously improve care delivery.

Communication and engagement

Vic underscores the necessity of effective communication and engagement strategies to drive change and improve outcomes for individuals. Engaging the workforce and the population is essential for raising awareness about available treatments and promoting better understanding of wound care options.

Extending pharmacy services – the pros and cons

Vic acknowledges the potential of community pharmacists in wound care as they are in the heart of communities, close to the patients, and can have a further role in early intervention. But she raises concerns about the sustainability and consistency of extending their roles. Vic highlights challenges such as increased workload, inconsistent sign-up to extended services, and competing priorities within the pharmacy profession.

Vic also provides recommendations to apply population health management techniques to diabetes care for comprehensive support

Vic asserts the need to shift away from treating diabetes as a standalone condition and to instead adopt a holistic approach that addresses individuals’ overall health needs. She advocates for integrated care models that offer comprehensive support, ensuring that individuals receive assistance beyond diabetes management alone. This approach aims to improve overall health outcomes and reduce the likelihood of complications associated with diabetes, such as leg ulcers and amputations.

Empowering prevention strategies

Furthermore, Vic highlights the importance of prevention strategies in combating diabetes. She stresses the need for a cohesive and proactive focus on prevention, encompassing primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention efforts. By investing in preventive measures and proactive interventions, such as health and wellbeing initiatives and collaborations with voluntary sectors, individuals can be empowered to manage their diabetes effectively and avoid frequent visits to healthcare providers.

Personalised care: addressing individual needs

Lastly, Vic underscores the significance of a personalised approach to diabetes care. She advocates for a strengths-based conversation that empowers individuals to take charge of their health while ensuring that healthcare systems meet their personal needs. By tailoring care plans to individual circumstances and preferences, healthcare providers can address inequalities and deliver more effective and meaningful support. This collaborative approach involves engaging individuals in decision-making processes and considering factors such as housing, employment, and social support to create sustainable and equitable healthcare services. Figure 1 below demonstrates how population health analytics tools can improve outcomes and efficiency.

*Figure 1: Population Health Management Tools, the bridge between the person and the system strategy (click to englarge)*

Conclusion

Vic emphasises the critical need for consistent documentation of wound care activities across all levels of healthcare delivery. This ensures accurate data collection, essential for evidence-based decision-making and evaluating outcomes. Additionally, she underscores the importance of a personalised care approach, recognising that individual needs may vary significantly. Training in best practices, continuous evaluation, and effective communication and engagement strategies are identified as key priorities to drive improvements in wound care delivery.

However, a significant challenge arises from the inconsistent capture of data by community nurses. This gap in documentation poses a barrier to comprehensive data analysis and evidence-based decision-making. Addressing this challenge will require focused efforts to improve documentation practices and ensure that all relevant data are captured accurately. By prioritising efforts to enhance data collection consistency, healthcare providers can strengthen the foundation for effective wound care delivery and evaluation.

What’s next?

Diabetes and wound care are the second and third highest expense to the health system respectively, and impact millions of people in the United Kingdom. Public Policy Projects is launching the second part of its Diabetes Care programme in the autumn of 2024 called ‘Holistic approaches to diabetes care – treating the whole patient’. Vic Townshend will be presenting on 2nd December, in London at the PPP Wound Care conference.

Contact Ameneh Saatchi, Director of Market Access for Diabetes and Wound Care, should you wish to learn more about these programmes: ameneh.saatchi@publicpolicyprojects.com

All news

Developing a life sciences superpower – how the General Election will shape support for the medical technology and pharmaceutical sectors

By Seb Phillips, Senior Account Manager, PLMR Healthcomms

The life sciences industry’s contribution to the UK economy cannot be understated. One in every 121 employed people in the UK work in the sector, which is worth more than £90 billion to the UK economy, and is responsible for world-leading vaccines, robots, medicines and scanners.

Medical technology and pharmaceutical solutions cover almost all medical diagnosis and treatment, and share a mission to improve health outcomes, right the way through from prevention to treatment and aftercare. Medical technology covers everything from syringes and sticking plasters to replacement joints and surgical robotics; with pharmaceuticals ranging from paracetamol and over-the-counter cold and flu powder to the world’s most innovative cell and gene therapies and MRNA vaccines.

Medical technologies and pharmaceuticals hold the promise to support both the health and wealth of the nation, but face a range of barriers to enabling the UK to become a life sciences superpower.

Given the importance of the life sciences sector for the national health and economy, and the need for strong local links between the medical technology and pharmaceutical sectors and their future MPs, PLMR Healthcomms has developed the Clusters of Change: Key Electoral Battlegrounds for the Life Sciences Sector insights report.

This report maps the hotspots of the pharmaceutical and medical technology across the country, linking them to the constituencies being fought in the general election. Using the PLMR Candidates Portal the report paints a picture of the MPs who will be representing constituencies with the largest life sciences footprints after the General Election.

Why this election matters for the life sciences sector

While they have their operational differences, both MedTech and pharma function through similar prisms, sharing objectives around regulation, support for innovation, and better adoption pathways through the NHS.

As such, the outcome for this General Election is particularly important to both, with the elected representatives due to take their places in Parliament for the first time – and there will be a large number of new MPs – due to hold some power over how the life sciences landscape is shaped and supported over the next five years.

It is these incoming Parliamentarians who can advocate and help to deliver better regulation, support better adoption, and help drive the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the NHS to deliver for patients through better use of the life sciences sector.

The life sciences sector is critical to the long-term prosperity and health of the nation, and it is therefore vital that the incoming Parliamentarians are aware of the impact that they have on their own constituencies and the country as a whole.

Political ambition for the sector

Although both the Conservative and Labour Parties have pledged to make the UK a life sciences superpower, there are differences in how all parties pledge to support the sector. The Conservatives have pledged to drive capital investment; deliver a well-equipped MHRA; support more commercial clinical trials; and deliver a new MedTech pathway that rapidly adopts cost-effective tech.

Labour have promised to launch a new Regulatory Innovation Office; oversee an NHS innovation and adoption Strategy; and support a reduction in the re-evaluation of products shown to be clinically safe and cost effective by NICE.

The smaller parties have also recognised the importance of innovation and life sciences in their approach the NHS; but with both the major parties supporting the sector explicitly, this potential to truly deliver a life sciences superpower is within reach.

To realise that vision, each part of the life sciences sector must ensure that they are building advocates across Parliament, who can promote the benefits of innovation, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals; push Government for action on support for the sector; advocate for policies to ensure there is an appropriate regulatory and adoption landscape to support greater investment, development and deployment of the tools that support the NHS and drive further economic growth.

Links:

Clusters of Change: Key Electoral Battlegrounds for the Life Sciences Sector: https://plmr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Innovation-Cluster-Report-2.pdf
PLMR Candidates Portal: https://candidatesportal.co.uk/