Innovation in Healthcare is the biggest game in town...

I’ve always believed that to solve any challenge you need to start with WHY …?So why is Health Innovation the most important challenge of our time??

My hypothesis.. which I think most people will agree with .. is that?

Health is our most fundamental human need?

To go further.... I believe

Health is the most important value for both the individual and for our society

So what’s going on in Health right now??

Passing the peak of the pandemic has been like a receding tide, revealing the underlying health of our nation….?We can see that the health inequalities in our society — whether regional, racial or socioeconomic disparities — have only deepened.?

Men in England’s most deprived areas can expect to live nearly ten years less than those in the least….?

Shockingly ... in the UK in 2021…?

Black women are five times more likely to die from complications during childbirth than white women.?

Black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups make up less than a seventh of our population but they represented a third of the critical care admissions from COVID. Its not good enough.

In addition health systems in the UK and all over the world are experiencing some truly fundamental challenges... ?

Problem 1: Rising Demand …?

People are living longer and living with more and more complex health needs.?The government has stated that the waiting list for routine operations, such as hip replacements and cataract surgery, could reach 13 million as more people come forward for treatments which were delayed during the pandemic. There is clearly no 'quick fix' to this backlog and we will continue to see the impact of the pandemic on the health sector for many years to come

Problem 2: Falling Capacity & reduced workforce

Brexit (I know -sorry for mentioning it!) …. has exacerbated workforce shortages… The result is that we now have one of the lowest number of doctors per head in Europe — and workforce shortages in nearly every NHS speciality. We have growing problems of burnout, early retirement, people choosing to work part time and tense industrial relations, visible in the British Medical Association’s decision to ballot for a strike recently.

Not long ago, The Guardian carried an analysis of NHS Digital figures that showed 23 per cent of GPs are aged 55 or over, with “the average age at which doctors retire [now being] 59”…

But money without a workforce plan won’t help the NHS either …

Problem 3: rising costs

The government’s decision to inject ￡12bn into the NHS via a National Insurance increase was a bold and necessary move. We will all have to pay more for our health and social care in the coming years.

The official announcement of the 2021 budget…confirmed that the NHS will receive an additional ￡5.9bn in funding, totalling ￡176.5bn, a twenty-seven percent increase compared to the 2010 budget….

So… back to why…?

A lot of clever people in my network, but here is a simple equation for you

Rising demand + (falling capacity x reduced workforce) + increased costs??= you don’t have to be an “entrepreneur in residence” to know that if the NHS was a business it would have gone BUST by now …?

But the real answer to that equation,?to me, equals a vital need for greater collaboration, shared innovation and solutions across the healthcare sector and beyond?

So I have another equation for you…?

Economic Anchor + Climate Change impact = happier healthier lives?

Economic Anchor?

Health is an investment..??we all know that the health industry plays an ever increasing role for the economy.

?For all members of the G20 countries …?

health constitutes a major sector of the economy, in fact for many countries it is THE most important economy.?

In Germany, for example more than 6 million people are employed in the health economy versus less than a million in their world renowned car industry..?

Healthcare spending in China is rising 20% year on year and is estimated to reach ￡705 billion next year…?

These are just a couple of examples, but they go some way to show that health is the foundation of economic success and will be key to driving a revival of our economy post Brexit and post pandemic too…?

Climate change?

You may have seen this week at #COP26 that all 4 UK health services have united to commit to net zero carbon emissions…

This could represent an opportunity to cut the global carbon footprint quite dramatically, as health systems currently account for 5% of all global emissions…?

….

There is only one way out of this …?!!

INNOVATION?...

We need to incubate new entrepreneurial structures outside the main NHS to drive change when it comes to innovation and efficiency

We need to Help develop new models of care …?

We need to acknowledge that meeting health needs will require input from many disciplines including the social and environmental sciences, humanities and engineering, all of which are essential for the implementation of health research and improvement of health outcomes for entire populations…

that’s why harnessing the ecosystem that is here on Linkedin is so so important …?

There are people in my network who were part of the solution when the Covid-19 outbreak catalysed a surge in new thinking and innovation in Health …?

We innovated at pace to harness digital healthcare; AI and machine learning; deliver patient-centred care; and create environments virtually to improve care, recovery and wellbeing….

The pandemic continues to put enormous pressure on the NHS. But now, more than ever, we need to embrace the power of technology to find new ways to treat patients as efficiently as possible….

It’s time to level up on health. That’s going to take partnership. And it’s going to take a new kind of leadership - from me and from all of you...

After all, the NHS didn’t become the institution we all love today by standing still.?

Because the future of health in this country is not just about people in Whitehall or Execs in NHS Trusts; but about people like you and me - working in partnership with everyone who can make a difference.?

It’s a truly national health service …

We’re all cast together by the values that underpin the NHS and we all share a responsibility for the health of each other. I think that’s never been truer than the past couple of years.

Together, I know this new era will be one of the most consequential in the NHS’s proud history.

Let’s make it count. Let’s make a difference,.