I’m really excited and looking forward to my first Health and Care Innovation Expo as the new Managing Director of Healthcare UK. Once again, NHS England is running this high-profile event in Manchester and it promises to be a fantastic opportunity to further the agenda of NHS internationalisation.
Manchester is a vibrant city and is certainly at the forefront of healthcare in the UK today. It’s a fantastic place to showcase the best of the NHS to the international delegations that the Healthcare UK team is preparing to host for the duration of Expo, delegations from fast-moving markets like China, India, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.
The winds of change are sweeping through Manchester with the current devolution programme, which gives world-leading organisations like the Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, a truly elevated, global platform. Manchester really is leading the way in pioneering new models of care, and I feel truly confident that the healthcare future is bright for the city.
But for Healthcare UK, Expo is not just about promoting the UK healthcare sector to other countries. It also gives us a chance to showcase international markets and overseas commercial work to the NHS. We have a wonderful programme planned for the Healthcare UK stand at Expo, where we will hear from some prominent NHS organisations who have already engaged overseas as well as sessions on individual markets and live opportunities like the tremendously exciting Indo-UK Institutes of Health project. Also, our overseas visitors will be available for 1-2-1 meetings on the Healthcare UK stand. You can register for the 1-2-1 meeting booking system here.
We hope to show not just why an NHS organisation, be it a large acute hospital or a small community care provider, should consider international work, but exactly how they might go about it and learn from others already out there and doing it. One good example of this is the joint session between the Department of Health and NHS Improvement, which will look at how the NHS is already generating commercial income and how the centre can best support others to do the same.
NHS values and capabilities that deliver universal healthcare are admired across the world so at Healthcare UK we see the huge long-term potential of international work becoming a significant component of the NHS mandate. Through sharing knowledge and expertise and building long term partnerships with overseas healthcare organisations, the NHS can shape and play a part in the development of overseas healthcare whilst also learning, for example, about alternative ways of delivery or new models of care.
Importantly, international activity brings additional revenue to the NHS at a time of great financial pressure and can help with the recruitment and retaining of top-quality staff as well as improving the spread of innovation and research. The benefits of this for the UK as a whole could be profound, cementing the position of the NHS as one of the leading healthcare providers in the world today.
Register to attend the Health and Care Innovation Expo and book your place on your choice of the Healthcare UK seminars which are running across the two days.
I'm looking forward to seeing you in Manchester for Expo.
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