HealthTech Hour

NHS reform, the future of GPs, primary care, AI in healthcare, GLP-1s, prevention, the single patient record - Dr Charlotte Refsum, former GP and Director of Health Policy at the Tony Blair Institute, on why young people are bypassing the NHS, and what a primary care system built for the AI era looks like.What if the NHS is no longer the only option, and hasn't fully grasped it? Steve Roest sits down with Dr Charlotte Refsum, a former GP who now leads health policy at the Tony Blair Institute. She once practised medicine in a converted bedroom in southeast London with no blood tests and no X-rays on site, where the choice was her, that day, or A&E. Now she works on how the NHS adapts to AI, why NICE backed weight-loss jabs for 3.4 million people while 2.4 million went private online, and how to reach the people prevention keeps missing.In this episode:Why young people are bypassing the NHS for on-demand private care"Primary care is a platform, not a place": the GP's role in the age of AIWhat GLP-1s exposed about how the NHS values and delivers preventionWhy care.data failed, and how to make the single patient record matter to patientsThe "forgotten middle": why midlife is the sweet spot for preventionWhy the Treasury doesn't believe "prevention saves money," and the argument that worksWhy the GP contract isn't built for prevention, and the practical fixes that could change it0:00 From a bedroom GP surgery to predicting illness 1:15 Intro 4:30 From GP to health policy 6:35 Practising medicine in a converted bedroom 8:57 Primary care is a platform, not a place 11:50 A skin check in five seconds 15:47 What GLP-1s exposed about the NHS 19:40 Is the NHS still the only option? 25:49 Why the single patient record matters 30:13 Which country does health data best? 32:52 Why care data failed 34:22 Does prevention really save money? 37:43 The forgotten middle 42:06 Reaching people who never respond 44:37 Prevention without the fear 49:27 Why the GP contract isn't built for prevention 51:12 Practical fixes for primary care🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

Community pharmacy, pharmacist prescribing, Pharmacy First, NHS medicine shortages, prevention, blood pressure checks — Jay Patel, co-CEO of Day Lewis, on why the pharmacy on your high street is the most underused and underfunded part of UK healthcare.A blood pressure check he almost declined caught the heart disease that would have killed him. Steve Roest sits down with Jay Patel — qualified pharmacist, MBA, Community Pharmacy England board member and co-CEO of one of the UK's largest pharmacy chains — on why community pharmacy is quietly becoming the front line of prevention, and what it could do if the system actually backed it.In this episode:Why a routine pharmacy check saved Jay's life, and what it says about preventionWhy every newly qualified pharmacist in the UK can now prescribeHow pharmacies are paid less for medicines than they cost to buyWhy Pharmacy First is the backbone of what's coming nextHow AI will make pharmacists better, not replace themWhy online pharmacy hasn't killed the high-street modelThe four lessons from building a 250-pharmacy family business0:00 The pharmacy check that saved his life 0:44 Intro 3:10 Welcome & why community pharmacy keeps growing in importance 5:50 Growing up in the back of a pharmacy 11:11 Why pharmacy is a bigger front line than your GP 14:12 The blood pressure check that saved Jay's life 19:13 Pharmacist prescribing and Pharmacy First 24:49 Why AI will make pharmacists better, not replace them 47:45 Why pharmacies lose money on your prescriptions 49:27 The four lessons that shaped him🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

Children's mental health, prevention vs treatment, resilience, self-esteem, the CAMHS waiting list - Laura Earnshaw, Founder of myHappymind, on why we're solving children's mental health at the wrong end, and what teaching it early actually looks like.What if most children's mental health problems could be prevented years before they ever reach a waiting list? Steve Roest sits down with Laura Earnshaw, former Global Head of Talent at AstraZeneca, now Founder and CEO of myHappymind, the NHS-backed programme in over 2,000 schools. After her own son struggled at school and a family member was sectioned, Laura left her corporate career to build the skills she'd been teaching senior leaders for children as young as three.In this episode:Why children's mental health needs prevention, not just treatmentWhat myHappymind teaches children as young as threeThe 120% vs 20% data proving early intervention worksThe commissioner who wouldn't fund prevention and whyWhy "character, not competence" builds real self-esteemWhy founders should stop publicly blaming the NHSLaura's mottos for getting through the hard days0:00 Why we get children's mental health backwards 0:51 Intro 2:20 From AstraZeneca to founding myHappymind 5:44 The two moments that changed everything 8:04 A million kids waiting: prevention vs treatment 10:34 What you can teach a three-year-old 11:38 Character, not competence: building real self-esteem 15:54 The data - 120% vs 20% on school absence 19:12 The commissioner who wouldn't fund prevention 40:44 Why founders should stop blaming the NHS 42:42 How the NHS came to her first 50:05 "Everything is figureoutable"🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

NHS data, global healthcare systems, cancer referrals, the single patient record, A&E pressures - Dr Penny Dash, Chair of NHS England, on what the UK gets right, what it gets wrong, and what it could learn from the rest of the world.Is there a healthcare system better than the NHS? Steve Roest sits down with Penny Dash — former hospital doctor, ex-McKinsey European healthcare lead, and now Chair of NHS England - for one of the most wide-ranging conversations the show has had. After more than four decades in the system, she remains a rare voice of optimism: a realist who never sugarcoats, but always sees the potential for things to be better.In this episode:Why there's no clear winner among global healthcare systems, and what the UK still leads onWhy Dr Dash believes India could lead the world in healthcareHow Germany prices surgery like a market to manage waiting listsWhy your GP and hospital records still don't connectThe single patient record debate, and thirty years of the same resistanceWhy "don't come to A&E" is the wrong messageWhy most urgent cancer referrals now find nothing0:00 Is there a better system than the NHS? 0:51 Intro 2:26 Staying optimistic after 45 years in healthcare 5:44 Which countries do healthcare best 9:19 Why India could lead the world in healthcare 11:50 How Germany prices surgery like a market 19:12 Innovation vs adoption: the 17-year lag 27:41 The single patient record debate 42:22 Why your GP and hospital records don't connect 47:48 "Telling people not to come to A&E is our failure" 56:31 Why 9 in 10 cancer referrals find nothing🎧 New episodes every week with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare. Follow HealthTech Hour:

Health data, the single patient record, Palantir, the Federated Data Platform, UK Biobank, synthetic data — Matthew Whitty, former Director of Innovation at NHS England, on who really owns your health data and why the NHS still can't join it up.Matt's career has spanned hospital pharmacy, commissioning, consultancy and national policy, giving him a rare view from the intersection of government, industry, academia and patient care. In this episode, Steve gets into why the data debate is really about trust, and what it'll take to unlock the NHS's most valuable asset safely.We discuss:Why the "privatisation" debate is really about trust and motivation, not sell-offsWho actually owns your health data, and why no single patient record existsThe Federated Data Platform and Palantir controversy, explained without the noiseHow de-identified data gets re-identified, and what really happened with UK BiobankWhy synthetic data and "sandbox" environments could make Britain the number one place to build healthtechWhy the NHS may compare far better to other systems than the headlines suggestThe NHS holds one of the largest single-system health datasets in the worldThe question isn't whether to use it, but how to do it in a way patients actually trust0:00 Who owns your health data? 0:55 Intro 4:00 From hospital pharmacist to NHS England innovation lead 8:45 The public vs private NHS debate 13:19 Who owns your data & the UK Biobank breach 17:24 The Federated Data Platform & Palantir, explained 33:30 Why healthtech gets support no other industry does 43:18 Synthetic data & sandboxes 48:00 Abolishing NHS England & reasons for optimismFollow HealthTech Hour for more conversations with the founders, operators and builders shaping the future of UK health and tech. HealthTech Hour Socials: https://linktr.ee/healthtechhour