This has been one of the most difficult periods for healthcare systems, staff and people around the world. And here in the UK we have now arguably reached the most challenging point in the pandemic so far. The news is full of heart breaking stories of loss – both health and economic. Many of us have difficult personal stories to tell.

Late last year I lost my step-grandma. Born in November 1917 at the end of the first World War, Betty was a truly amazing woman. Across her 103 years she was a beacon of positivity and had a wonderful spirit and sense of life. She told fascinating stories – particularly about how much the country had changed since she was a young woman and her work in Whitehall during the war. Betty spent her final months in a care home, having only moved out of her family home after receiving a 100^th birthday card from the Queen. The care she received was compassionate delivered by dedicated care staff against a backdrop of immense challenges for the home brought by the pandemic.

Throughout this crisis I have been in absolute awe of those working in healthcare around the clock to keep us safe. Whether it be developing cutting edge science, rolling out vaccines and testing, treating those affected by the virus, keeping non-COVID care going, public health leaders managing outbreaks and carers for the vulnerable and shielding. The pandemic will have a long and deep set of impacts for healthcare systems and our health. It is with these impacts in mind and in trying to build a better future that I am today launching Future Health.

Future Health exists to generate new public policy ideas to create healthier and wealthier nations, societies and communities. Good health has always been a critical driving factor in national prosperity – and Covid 19 has only brought that into sharper focus.

Like Betty, I am an optimist and despite the immense challenges we face, there are signs that our future can be a healthier and more prosperous one. The level of innovation and opportunity for transformation in healthcare is developing at a staggering and exciting pace. The utilisation of new technologies and tools, whether that be state of the art vaccines, genomics, artificial intelligence, personalized medicine or new data platforms and apps, present an ability to deliver change that can transform lives.

But to build this brighter future, we need to learn the lessons from today and set out on a new journey. One that disregards traditional boundaries and silos, and instead looks to bring together a range of views, voices and perspectives to work together on tackling complex challenges. We also need to think globally. Not only through a narrow lens of competition, but with collaboration and learning at its core.

Future Health will do this. Bringing together people from across Governments, healthcare systems, staff, innovators, suppliers, patients and the public to look at how to build better policy that delivers improved health for citizens. Our three research programmes are asking broad but important questions; How can the healthcare sector support economic growth? How can we unlock new technologies to support improved health outcomes? How can we build more preventative healthcare systems?

Our new policy framework, FuturePolicy will underpin our approach, exploring the historical trends of policy in particular areas, developing new proposals and tackling the practical implications of any proposed changes.

There is no doubt that this is a grave time in our history but there is a better long term future in sight, particularly if we can utilise the ingenuity of our healthcare system, staff scientists, innovators and creators. Here at Future Health we will be playing our part in building a better future. Betty would expect nothing less.

richard@futurehealth-research.com
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