The Health Foundation podcast

The headlines are bloodcurdling. AI ‘could wipe out humanity’, with varying probabilities attached to an extinction-level event. But what lies behind these apocalyptic predictions and how worried should we really be? In a high-risk area like health care, safe, responsible use of AI technologies will be critical. This month saw publication of the national commission’s final report into the regulation of AI in health care. The commission sets out a blueprint for regulation of AI in health care and calls AI ‘… one of the most significant opportunities to improve health care in a generation.’ So how does policy need to evolve to realise these opportunities and minimise the extraordinary risks? Our Chief Executive, Jennifer Dixon, is joined by Neil Lawrence, DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and author of The Atomic Human, a book that explores what AI means for humanity and our identity. The National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare was established to advise the MHRA. Neil Lawrence and Jennifer Dixon served as members. Its final report was published in September 2026.Show notesUK government. National commission into the regulation of AI in healthcare. Health Foundation (2026). The public’s views on the regulation of AI in health care. HSJ (2026). Trust in AI matters more than efficiency to the public. Financial Times (2026). Medical AI has a proof problem. Health Foundation (2026). Testing and spreading AI in health care: the case for rapid revolution. Neil Lawrence (2024). The Open Society and its AI.

The government published its 10-Year Health Plan in July 2025, after a year in development. The plan sets out a vision to transform the NHS centred around three shifts: hospital to community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention. A year later, how are the government’s reform ambitions being implemented? With the NHS under considerable pressure, what progress are patients seeing on the ground? And what needs to happen now to accelerate delivery? To discuss, our Chief Executive Jennifer Dixon is joined by: Birju Bartoli, Chief Executive, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Paul Dinkin, Director General for Strategy and Healthcare Policy, NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care. Amanda Sullivan, Chief Executive, NHS Derby & Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottingham & Nottinghamshire ICBs. The panel discussion The 10-Year Health Plan: can reform ambitions meet delivery reality? was recorded on 11 June 2026 at NHS ConfedExpo and is reproduced here in edited form with permission.Show notesHealth Foundation (2025). Dazed and confused? Policy ideas behind the 10-Year Health Plan. Health Foundation (2026). Labour 2 years in: progress so far and prospects for health and care reform. . Health Foundation (2026). Testing and spreading AI in health care: the case for rapid revolution.King’s Fund (2025). 1 year on, is the NHS 10-Year Health Plan being delivered?BMJ (2026). England’s 10-Year Health Plan: aligning hope with economic reality.

The Labour government has embarked on a reorganisation of the NHS in England. And now the Health Bill (also known as the ‘NHS Modernisation Bill’) has been introduced in parliament to effect the changes. Key provisions include merging NHS England into the Department of Health and Social Care, reforming data sharing to support creating a single patient record and shaking up patient voice functions by abolishing Healthwatch. But will any of this make a real difference to patients and the public? We take a closer look at what’s in the bill and what it really means, and ask how Wes Streeting’s departure as health secretary is likely to affect the government’s reform agenda. Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy and Research at the Health Foundation, is joined by: Clare Gerada, a GP and a crossbench peer in the House of Lords. Nicholas Timmins, an author and journalist who writes about the welfare state and the NHS and a senior fellow at the Institute for Government. Show notesUK parliament. Health Bill.  Department of Health and Social Care (2024). Independent investigation of the NHS in England: Lord Darzi's report on the state of the National Health Service in England.BMJ (2026). Health bill brings NHS management back into government.  NHS Assembly (2023). NHS in England at 75: Priorities for the future.  The King’s Fund (2026). Before the next bill lands: what history tells us about NHS reorganisation. Health Foundation (2026). Health bill hands power to ministers, but misses the biggest health challenges. 

Artificial intelligence is developing at breakneck speed, leaving governments around the world scrambling to respond. For a high-risk area like health care, safe, responsible use will be critical. But pressures on health systems mean governments can ill afford to delay adoption. So what's the right balance? And how can we ensure AI tools work in real-life health care settings and minimise unintended consequences?Following the 10-Year Health Plan, the government has established a National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare to explore these questions and make recommendations for how regulations need to adapt. To discuss, our Chief Executive Jennifer Dixon is joined by: Ricardo Baptista Leite, CEO of Health AI, a Geneva-based nonprofit that promotes equitable access to AI-powered health innovations. Alastair Denniston, Professor of Regulatory Science and Innovation at the University of Birmingham.  The National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare is established to advise the MHRA. It is co-chaired by Alastair Denniston. Ricardo Baptista Leite and Jennifer Dixon are members. Its final report is expected later in 2026. Show notesUK government. National AI Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare.Health Foundation (2025). AI in healthcare – staying ahead of the issues. Health AI (2026). AI governance in health – Global landscape 2025 report.  Health Foundation (2026). AI in healthcare must earn the public’s confidence. JAMA (2025). AI, Health, and Health Care Today and Tomorrow: the JAMA Summit Report on Artificial Intelligence.

In 1997, the New Labour government set up the social exclusion unit in the Cabinet Office. It was tasked with tackling what Tony Blair called ‘joined-up problems’ – social challenges like homelessness, school absence and exclusion, drug use and teenage pregnancy, which often have complex and interlocking causes. Analysis suggests many of the initiatives that followed had real positive impacts. So what lessons can be drawn for the considerable challenges we face today?In conversation with our Chief Executive Jennifer Dixon, Moira Wallace – a former senior civil servant who led the unit – reflects on its work, the approaches it pioneered and how change was delivered on the ground. With near-record numbers of young people not in education, work or training – and public investment constrained – what options are available to the current Labour government? And how could changes to the wiring of government help to tackle this and other social challenges?Show notesWallace M (2023). Trends in adolescent disadvantage: policy and outcomes for young people under Labour, the Coalition, and the Conservatives (1997 to 2019). Wallace M (2025). Reducing school absence: innovation lessons from the last Labour government. Health Foundation (2024). Sure Start: a model for long-term policymaking? – with Naomi Eisenstadt and Donna Molloy.Health Foundation (2025). No child left behind: what the government’s child poverty strategy should aim to deliver. Health Foundation (2026). Why are a growing number of young people who are NEET reporting work-limiting health conditions?Resolution Foundation (2025). False starts: what the UK’s growing NEETs problem really looks like, and how to fix it. Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange and University of Bedfordshire (2025). Teenage pregnancy and young parenthood: successes, challenges and opportunities.