King’s Speech (4th Day)

Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as chair of Genomics England and Oxford University Innovation, as well as a board member of BioNTech and RTW Biotech Opportunities.

I welcome the noble Lords, Lord Vallance and Lord Livermore, and I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Vallance and Lord Petitgas, on their outstanding maiden speeches. As a former colleague, I can testify to the integrity and expertise of the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, although I fear that he may look back on Greenbottom as his first missed opportunity.

I welcome the focus on high-value growth set out by the Minister. However, our current economic models fail to account for health as a critical factor in economic growth. We need a new approach. Imagine a health balance sheet where the true economic value of health and the cost of ill health are clearly articulated. Such a model would highlight the preventive benefits of healthcare interventions, even those that add short-term costs, by showcasing their long-term economic gains.

It is understandable that discourse around healthcare is overwhelmingly focused on urgent pressures such as waiting lists and GP services. While these issues need answers, too narrow a focus risks a cycle of short-term fixes. This may relieve immediate stress on the NHS, but it will not address the root causes of our healthcare challenges. I look forward to the recommendations of the Darzi review.

We often debate the acceleration of ageing and chronic disease across our population, with 3 million rising to 4.4 million people over the age of 80 by 2030 and two in three over-65s living with multiple health conditions by 2035. These trends place immense pressure on our healthcare system. We have heard of 2.9 million working-age people being economically inactive due to ill health, costing the Government an extra £70 billion a year. Economic modelling published last month by the TBI found that reducing the incidence of six major diseases by 20% could raise GDP by almost 1% over 10 years. That equates to £26.3 billion annually. We know that regions with poorer health outcomes experience lower economic activity. Addressing these disparities not only fulfils a moral obligation but unlocks economic potential across the nation.

To counter these trends, we need a fundamental shift from treating illness to preventing it. This means investing more in upstream R&D and university spin-outs, as set out by the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, early detection, innovative treatments and preventive care. Currently, although our healthcare spend is comparable with other G7 nations, we spend heavily on acute care and lag in areas that would reduce long-term costs. For example, despite recent efforts, the UK still has less than a quarter of the number of MRI, CT and PET scanners per million people than comparator countries. We know that earlier diagnosis is key to better outcomes, and we must do better, so I was delighted to hear the new Health Secretary commit his department to this agenda. But if we want meaningful progress, isolated action by health and care budgets will not be enough. How will the Minister align non-DHSC prevention and care budgets and co-ordinate them with science and innovation spending through the industrial strategy, the Mansion House reforms, the national wealth fund and, of course, Treasury accounting?

Investing in advanced diagnostics and new therapeutics that actually reach patients significantly improves health outcomes and reduces demand because patients either get better quicker or are well managed, and that in turn keeps them in work and enhances productivity. Direct investment in life sciences and health tech stimulates further innovation, creating a positive feedback loop of health and economic gains.

We in the UK are uniquely positioned to lead this transformation. We have a single-payer health system with universal coverage and comprehensive datasets; these are ideal for data-driven health innovations. Initiatives such as the Genomic Medicine Service and the Generation Study have the potential to revolutionise healthcare delivery and set global standards, not to mention the growth engine of our globally competitive university innovation clusters.

It is time to re-evaluate how we think about health and its role in our economy. Health is not just a public service issue; it is fundamental to our economic strategy. The health of our nation is the wealth of our nation. Let us get to work in unlocking it.