Future Health 2050 International Symposium and EHD Champions Awards
12 February 2025 | The King's Fund, London
Join us at The King's Fund, London on 12 February for the Future Health 2050 International Symposium, focused on the theme Policy, planning, and investment: The NHS in recovery. This event offers a unique opportunity to engage with thought leaders and explore transformative strategies for the NHS.
The symposium will feature the European Healthcare Design Champions Awards, a once-in-a-decade celebration of design excellence in healthcare. Shortlisted projects will be presented in the afternoon the evening dinner, where the winners of the six categories will be announced.
Registration for the Symposium and Awards Dinner is open, with the early-bird deadline on 18 December.
Future Health 2050 International Symposium
Global perspectives
Policy, planning and investment: The NHS in recovery
Rising demand, fewer resources and strained finances are placing global health systems under unprecedented stress. What investment and transformation lessons can the NHS learn from how other countries are tackling healthcare’s existential crisis?
In his Independent Investigation of the NHS in England1, Lord Ara Darzi, highlighted how patient access to care, quality of care, and the overall productivity and performance of the NHS have been chronically weakened, laying the ground for a new 10-year plan, due to be published in the Spring.
Disastrous reforms, loss of trust and goodwill with frontline staff, the aftershocks of the pandemic and a chronic lack of capital investment, set against the backdrop of increasing demands on the health service and a deteriorating health of the nation, including widening health inequalities, are cited as the cause of the NHS’s “critical condition”.
Compared to its international peers, the health spending per person in the UK is below-average, lagging behind in its capital investment in physical resources and infrastructure, lower levels of clinical staff, and less competitive remuneration of key clinical staff groups. While providing good financial protection from the costs of falling ill, the UK’s health system has fewer resources, a mixed record on efficiency and quality, and poorer health outcomes.2
The new Government has recognised that the NHS needs to make three big shifts in where, how and what it delivers, moving services: from hospital to the community; from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.
The funding commitments in the Autumn budget announcement have been largely welcomed. A £22.6 billion increase in revenue and a £3.1 billion increase in capital over two years, with £1 billion to support backlog maintenance and the replacement RAAC hospitals, and £1.5 billion for new capacity, including beds, diagnostic technology and surgical hubs. While the investment announcements are a step in the right direction, arguably they only scratch the surface of the challenge to modernise the NHS and provide sustainable investment to upgrade its infrastructure.
Darzi’s estimation of a shortfall of £37 billion of capital investment, which includes a backlog maintenance bill now reported at £13.8 bn, that has resulted in dilapidated buildings, IT and digital infrastructure that is not fit for purpose, and a lack of modernised medical technology and equipment, is directly connected to the poor productivity of the NHS, the morale of its workforce, and poor health outcomes. But what options are available to address the chronic underinvestment in capital?3
With health systems around the world facing similar challenges, what global lessons are there to share and learn from approaches to policy, planning and investment in reforming and delivering a NHS fit for the future? In this symposium, interdisciplinary healthcare leaders will explore the global and UK context for transforming health systems and investing in infrastructure.
1. Darzi, Ara, Independent Investigation of the NHS in England, September 2024
2. Anandaciva, Siva How does the NHS compare to the healthcare systems of other countries? The King’s Fund, June 2023
3. Jones, Edward; Barron, Jonathan, Raising NHS Capital funds: options for government, NHS Confederation, 17 October 24
Symposium Gold Session Leaders
Speakers
Matthew Taylor
Dr Charlotte Refsum
Tina Nolan
Richard Darch
Matthew Tulley
Cliff Harvey
Kate Copeland
Nicola Bertrand
Hank Adams
European Healthcare Design Champions Awards
Supported by Integrated Health Projects (IHP) in celebration of the best in healthcare design globally, the event will be the culmination of a new awards competition between 52 winners of the EHD Awards in six categories over the last ten years. All previous winners will also be featured on a new Champions Awards website and digital gallery.
In each category, three previous award winners will be shortlisted to win the EHD Champions of Champions Award, and invited to present live to the judges in the afternoon of 12 February, following the morning symposium.
The six EHD Champions of Champions in each award category will be announced in a celebratory Evening Awards Reception and Dinner.
Categories
> Healthcare Design – Over 25,000 sqm
> Healthcare Design – Under 25,000 sqm
> Mental Health Design
> Design for Health and Wellness
> Interior Design and Arts
> Design for Adaptation and Transformation
Champions Awards Lead Partner
Judges
Kate Copeland
Paul Bell
Tina Nolan
Jonathan Erskine
Sunand Prasad OBE
Cliff Harvey
Jaime Bishop
John Cooper
Ruth Charity
Jim Chapman
Christine Chadwick
Programme Agenda
The programme features expert-led plenary discussions, dynamic debates on NHS transformation, and presentations from the shortlisted project. Explore pioneering ideas shaping the future of healthcare policy, planning, and investment.
Registration
Registration for the Symposium and Awards Dinner is open, with the early-bird deadline on 18 December.
Click below to view the ticket prices and book your tickets.
The venue – The King's Fund
The Symposium and Awards dinner will be held at The King’s Fund, a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse, overlooking Cavendish Square. The accredited venue, includes a 282-seater lecture theatre with built-in audiovisual and streaming facilities, with period features and a beautiful Orangery.
Address No.11 Cavendish Square, W1G 0AN
Website www.11cavendishsq.com
