The Perfect Time To Join? Lessons From My ABHI Placement Year
When I started at ABHI, everyone called it the perfect time to join the sector. A new government, a whole host of new plans for HealthTech and adjacent industries. Optimism for the future, and relatively fast-moving change (as fast as consultations can move anyway). The optimism itself was of the same feeling as that one-word Labour slogan; detail-light, sure to be on the not-too-radical side.
Looking back, it seems slightly hollow to use such a generic motto, although that is how election campaigns go.
I am pretty sure all those people were right though, and a lot has happened. International recognition has gone from a promise on ABHI’s manifesto to a clear direction of travel, and Value-Based Procurement has seen a similar commitment from DHSC. For at least the next four years, the NHS has its strategic direction with the 10 Year Health Plan, and the sector is receiving overdue attention with the Life Sciences Sector Plan. All this depends on the delivery of said plans and initiatives, of course (if someone says “the devil is in the detail” one more time…).
On the subject of government plans, I may as well put in my two pennies’ worth about the future of the NHS while I have the platform. I do hear a lot of pessimistic takes, but I am inclined to be optimistic (perhaps because of my youth). There are two reasons I think the UK Government’s plans for the NHS stand a chance at succeeding. Firstly, as pointed out by Re:State’s (formerly Reform) Rosie Beacon in our member webinar this July, a small absolute increase in the NHS’s primary care budget is a huge relative one, and can deliver much more than the same increase for secondary and tertiary care. The recent Spending Review sent the total NHS budget as high as the entire GDP of Portugal. In 2024, The King’s Fund reported the total primary care budget (GPs, dental services, pharmaceutical services, etc.) to be £17.2 billion for 2022/2023. If, say, a £6 billion uplift for the entire health service is a drop in the ocean, it means an increase of about 30% for primary care. The impact on consumer-facing services in the community could be huge, and there is no better case for the benefits of greater primary care funding than the 10 Year Plan itself, with the countless examples it provides of productivity gains such as this one.
For me, this ameliorates the impact of Labour’s pledge to the 18-week wait’s 92% standard, as less money may have to flow to primary care to achieve the three shifts of care. The momentum behind primary care will also, hopefully, grow as its benefits spread beyond pockets of good practice.
Secondly, for the entire year, I have been absolutely blown away by HealthTech itself. From progress in AI-driven diagnostics, to the virtual wards spoken about at our Parliamentary Reception in July, and to the diabetes closed loop systems which are used by people I know, there is so much potential to improve both productivity and quality of care. This country has a world-beating research ecosystem for HealthTech, a result of the universities, sustained support from HM Government, and of course HealthTech companies themselves (see Figure 6 of last year’s annual survey). This solves what is conceptually the hardest part of problem, which is making the technology possible in the first place. Of course, the regulatory and market access barriers to HealthTech remain.
Regardless of what happened policy-wise this year, this placement has seriously got to be one of the best ones going for students like me. Everything I could have possibly wanted to do in this role, I either got or had the chance to do. Writing the big policy papers like Transformation and Growth; handling huge data analysis in the 2024 Annual Survey; even being posted on the desk at last year’s Annual Conference, in my first-ever receptionist role. I presented at the Government Affairs group meetings, and sat in on MP meetings and Parliamentary committees. It is the sort of environment that only comes about when a team actively empowers you, and I am immensely grateful to ABHI for providing those opportunities and supporting me through them.
As for what is next, I have no idea, beyond a fourth year at Leeds. I take solace that, since my time here, I have learnt there is always a role for you. In university, at least before you do your research, the job market is an amorphous thing. You think of going into broad sectors like “civil service” and “policy” and “economics”, while your attention is eaten up by the essays and seminars and parties. This is an experience referred to by my predecessor, Lucy, last year. Only once I got the interview for ABHI did it start to become clear the range of jobs there truly are, and I am much more hopeful I will find something that will suit me.
I hope this has been at least a nice break from the sports-NHS two-jab this blog usually witnesses. That is not to say those are not fabulously written, though, and worth a read every time.
Now, I will pass the ABHI intern baton to my successor, Emma. I know you all will welcome her as warmly as you welcomed me last year. She will have the classic induction of chasing you for responses to our 2025 business survey!
Owain Prescott, ABHI Government Affairs Researcher, 2024 - 2025 Academic Year