The Health Foundation podcast

What's happened to our economy and what does it mean for our health? Many developed economies have been growing more slowly since around 2008, but the UK economy has been struggling more than most. Wages haven't risen since 2008 leaving the average worker £14,000 worse off. Productivity growth – vital to rising living standards – has stalled. Regional inequalities are unusually large, and economic...

Given the huge pressures on the NHS it's perhaps inevitable people ask, what's the future of it? The NHS and social care are struggling to deliver care and support to people who need it. With services so stretched, waiting times at record highs, public satisfaction falling and a demoralised workforce, is now the time to ask some fundamental questions about the NHS? In the past month, two independe...

About a fifth of us of working age – just under 9 million people in the UK – are not looking for or are not able to work. Recently the biggest growth has been among those reporting long-term illness, now at a record high of around 2.7 million. This decline in working-age health is causing concern among employers, politicians and policymakers. Earlier this month the Health Foundation launched an in...

Join us as we look back at the pick of the pod in 2023.  It's been a turbulent year: the NHS under pressure, the health of the population not improving as fast as we’d like and economic inactivity remaining stubbornly high, especially among working-age people.  But it's not all gloom. To some surprise, we saw government ditch its nanny state objections and take bold action on tobacco. And there ha...

AI technologies are advancing rapidly. Yet when it comes to AI in health care we're still in the early stages. The prize could be big – the question is what will it take to realise the benefits? The applications of AI in health care will be far-reaching and profound, from high-quality personalised treatment advice made instantly available to automated systems that can cut bureaucracy, free up staf...

A general election is expected in 2024 and no party can ignore the NHS − but what do they plan to do on health? The health service regularly tops voter concerns, consumes a growing share of public spending and features daily in the media. The health of the nation is also moving up the agenda, with ill health the main reason why 2.6 million working-age people are economically inactive. So what are...

A record 7.7 million people are now waiting for elective care in England. With so many waiting for NHS care, polls show deep public concern over access to health services and many considering going private. Meantime policymakers are exploring how the independent sector can help get waiting lists down, and private equity investors are making moves in the independent health care provider market. So...

Whatever we are doing on health, it isn't enough to prepare for the wave of morbidity that is clearly in sight.  Recent Health Foundation modelling estimates 1 in 5 will be living with major illness by 2040, mostly because more of us will be older. But it's not just about age. A record 2.5 million working-age people are already not in work due to ill health. So what can be done to improve the stat...

In our series marking the NHS’s 75th birthday, we’ve been setting out the big challenges and opportunities ahead for the health service. In this third and final installment, we ask how the potential of technology might be unlocked to benefit patients, the public, staff and the taxpayer. We also share initial reflections on the recently published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.  To discuss, our Chief...

As we approach the NHS’s 75th birthday in July, we’re releasing a series of three podcast episodes setting out the big questions facing the health service. This second episode explores the role of political leadership in addressing the big challenges in health care, whether political leadership is up to the task of getting the NHS to its 100th anniversary – and if not, how could it improve?  To di...

The fact the NHS survives by a kind of miracle is one of its endearing British features – so said former health secretary, Kenneth Clarke. Well, can that miracle continue? As we approach the NHS’s 75th birthday in July, we’re launching a series of three podcast episodes setting out the big questions facing the health service. This first episode explores current pressures on the NHS, economy and wi...

How healthy we are in part depends on the many different exposures we've had over our life – including to physical, psychological and social factors. Chronic exposure to psychosocial stress – for example, poverty or other disadvantage – leads to prolonged strain on the body. This weathering can make us physically ill before our time and prematurely age us. So what is psychosocial stress, how does...

News of artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. We seem to be on the cusp of a revolution in how the latest AI models will change our lives – and health and care could be at the centre of those changes. AI will transform medicine, AI will allow doctorless screening and personalised prevention, AI will boost productivity, AI will make thousands of jobs redundant – so go all the claims.   But is...

Today, women make up around half of all doctors and two-thirds of all medical students. So, has equality in health care finally been achieved?  When International Women’s Day began in 1909, women were still barred from entering medical school. Today women make up a growing share of the medical workforce and students in the UK. Despite this considerable progress, research indicates that today women...

Improvements to life expectancy slowed in the last decade, and in some communities even went into reverse.   In England, the north east region has the lowest life expectancy. The last decade and a half has seen a worrying increase in mortality among younger people, and in particular men who are dying before their time. A big chunk of this excess mortality seems to be down to so called ‘ deaths of...

What a rollercoaster year it's been. In this Christmas round-up, we're looking back over our 2022 podcast episodes and pulling out some top insights for you to reflect on.   Our chief executive Dr Jennifer Dixon shares clips from: Catherine Howarth and John Godfrey, Are businesses and investors really serious about improving our health?   Dame Carol Black and Dr João Castel-Branco Goulão, Tackling...

We're all familiar with some of the challenges ahead in the UK: a fiscal squeeze, limp productivity, a labour shortage and an ageing population with increasing needs.  As Andy Haldane put it in our recent REAL Challenge lecture, two routes to prosperity for the UK include increasing the number of workers and their productivity. But both of these routes now appear to be hampered by increasing ill h...

We don’t like to think about death. To many, death and dying have no value and are relegated to the margins of our lives. But about half a million of us in Britain die each year, mostly in our 80s, with half of us dying in our usual place of residence – in our own bed. With palliative care stretched and family and friends often left unsupported, what could be an enriching and meaningful phase of l...

A new Prime Minister, government and health secretary, all facing a formidable array of challenges. Prime Minister Liz Truss has said that putting the NHS ‘on a firm footing’ is one of her top three priorities (alongside the economy and energy). Meanwhile, Health Secretary Thérèse Coffey has said her priorities are ABCD (ambulances, backlog, care and doctors and dentists), and since the podcast re...

In meeting the huge challenges facing the NHS, technology is often looked to as the great hope. Yet studies suggest good management is a more active ingredient for success.  Over the years numerous reports have called for more clinicians to manage the NHS, highlighting their deep knowledge of clinical care, and insight and credibility to make effective change.   Now, over a third of all NHS chief...

The pandemic challenged every health care system in the world. But what can we learn from one another aboutin the way we responded, and how we might improve for future threats?   In this episode we look up close at the experience of two large academic teaching hospitals embedded in two different health care systems – the Charité in Berlin, Germany’s largest teaching hospital, and Imperial College...

Ask the public about health, and they often put the responsibility on the individual and the NHS. And yet we know the context in which we live and make choices really matters. The context that governments, businesses, employers and investors have a big hand in shaping.   Polling shows the public is increasingly seeing the government as having an important role to play in improving people's health,...

The NHS is experiencing an unusual set of pressures at the moment, with waiting lists of 6.5 million, staff shortages, ambulance delays, long waits and much more. Meanwhile, public satisfaction with the NHS has nosedived, according to the recent British Social Attitudes survey. While politicians acknowledge the challenges and repeat their support for the NHS, outriders on the political right are f...

This year households across the UK are facing the biggest squeeze in living standards since the 1950s. Most of us will feel the impact, but poor households are being hit the hardest. We know that poverty and the stress of debt harms our health in the short and long term.  One role of the state is to provide a welfare safety net. After last month's Spring Statement, what should the government do no...

For the last decade, gains in life expectancy have been stalling. We’re living more years in poor health too, with a 20 year gap in healthy life expectancy between women living in the richest and poorest areas.  The biggest risk factors driving the UK‘s high burden of ill health are smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity and harmful alcohol use. All are socioeconomically patterned and contribute...