Building a healthier, wealthier Britain: Launching the IPPR Centre for Health and Prosperity
Article
Following the success of our Commission on Health and Prosperity, IPPR is excited to launch the Centre for Health and Prosperity.
The centre will be a new, permanent home for bold, progressive thinking on how to boost health and transform the NHS to build a wealthier, fairer Britain.
Shifting the terms of the debate: The IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity
The IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity set out to test one simple but transformative idea: that health is Britain’s greatest untapped route to prosperity.
Over three years of research and close engagement with politicians, policymakers, and institutions such as the Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility, the commission pushed this idea firmly into the national conversation. It demonstrated that poor health is a core driver of Britain’s most persistent economic challenges – from high levels of economic inactivity and lagging productivity to reduced household earnings and entrenched regional inequalities.
The commission proposed an ambitious shift: from a system that reacts to sickness to one that actively creates health
Having set out the diagnosis, the commission proposed an ambitious shift: from a system that reacts to sickness to one that actively creates health. Its blueprint for change focused on five major pillars: creating workplaces that protect health; developing an active industrial strategy to support 'health-vital' industries; strengthening early-years and childhood services; restoring critical community infrastructure to build healthy places; and reforming the NHS to realise its preventative potential.
The ideas generated by the commission have shaped thinking at the highest levels. The prime minister, health secretary and chancellor have all spoken about the clear links between health and wealth, and argued that improving health is a vital pillar of Britain’s economic strategy. As the secretary of state for health and social care, Wes Streeting, put it:
I want to make the Department of Health and Social Care a department for economic growth, because we won't build a healthy economy without a healthy society. IPPR are at the forefront of this approach, and I look forward to studying their ideas closely.
As the government has developed its reform agenda, it has drawn extensively on the IPPR’s work. The vision set out in Fit for the Future, the government’s 10-year plan for health, aligns closely with that set out in IPPR research over many years to build a more preventative, community-centred health system. Many of the plan’s core ideas, from developing a neighbourhood health service to using NHS recruitment to drive local prosperity and social mobility, were drawn directly from IPPR research.
Relatedly, the government has shown increasing interest in the relationship between ill health and economic inactivity, exemplified by the publication of Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working review. Population health, workforce participation and economic productivity are now widely viewed as interlinked public policy goals, in no small part due to the IPPR’s work.
From vision to delivery
With the 10-year health plan now published, and budgets set for government departments and the NHS for the coming years, the planning phase of reform is now coming to an end. 'Delivery, delivery, delivery' is now the government’s mantra, and those working across the health and care system are now hard at work turning an ambitious vision for change into on-the-ground transformation.
Change in health systems is never easy – but decision makers and frontline leaders face especially daunting headwinds in the years to come.
With the ‘what’ of reform now largely settled, a relentless focus on the ‘how’ is essential
A difficult outlook for the public finances means that although the NHS’s budget will continue to grow over the course of this parliament, it will do so at a slower rate than its historic average. Other health-creating public services, including public health, adult social care and education, continue to feel the squeeze of decades of constrained spending. And despite the long-term ambition set out in the 10-year health plan to fundamentally shift the NHS’s model of care and build a cross-government approach to health, urgent performance pressures in the healthcare system will continue to be at the forefront of policymakers’ minds. In this context, there is a risk that transformative health-creating reform, not just in the NHS but across government and society, falls down the agenda.
The Centre for Health and Prosperity: A new platform to drive reform
This moment demands new ways of thinking to sustain and scale up the delivery of a once-in-a-generation reform programme in a challenging context. To meet this moment, IPPR is launching the Centre for Health and Prosperity (CHP), a new permanent platform for IPPR’s health policy work and the go-to voice for practical, progressive ideas that make health the engine of national renewal.
As the system shifts its energy to implementing change, so too will IPPR. With the ‘what’ of reform now largely settled, a relentless focus on the ‘how’ is essential. The centre will continue to make the case that health is the foundation of the UK’s future prosperity, but its core focus will be on turning the vision set out by the commission into lasting change. We will work closely with partner organisations across the health and care system to develop practical, evidence-based solutions to bridge the gap between policy and delivery that has often plagued reform efforts.
The centre will focus on three key areas.
- Driving NHS reform for the long-term: The government faces a dual challenge in reforming the NHS: meeting urgent performance targets and restoring confidence in existing services, while also delivering the deeper transformation the NHS needs to meet the needs of the future. The centre will provide first-in-class analysis to meet both demands — from delivering the neighbourhood health agenda to building the foundations for long-term change.
- Boosting the health of the nation: Alongside transforming the NHS, the government has set out an ambition to boost healthy life expectancy, close regional health gaps and cut the number of lives lost to major diseases. This demands a bold shift to prevention and action on the root cause of ill health. Policymakers need clear evidence on what works and milestones to stay on track, especially when budgets are tight and attention is stretched. The centre will provide the strategic insight and political understanding required to keep a long-term health creation mission front and centre.
- Hardwiring health into economic strategy: The IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity made clear that economic growth and productivity depend on a healthier nation. But real progress will require rewiring the centre of government so that the economic value of health and care investment is properly recognised and incentivised. The centre will lead work to institutionalise the link between health and wealth in how government operates.
The launch of the Centre for Health and Prosperity marks the next phase in IPPR’s mission to make health a driver of national renewal. Building on the insight and influence of the Commission on Health and Prosperity, the centre will focus on turning bold ideas into practical, lasting change. By supporting NHS reform, promoting prevention and population health, and embedding the economic value of health across government, the centre will work to ensure that health is a cornerstone of Britain’s prosperity. In a challenging environment, this sustained, evidence-based approach will be vital to bridging the gap between vision and delivery – and to securing a healthier, fairer, and more prosperous Britain.
The centre’s work would not be possible without the generous support of its founding partners – AbbVie, British Heart Foundation, Haleon, MSD, Sandoz, and Gilead Sciences.
If you would like to learn more or get involved, please contact Sebastian Rees or Avnee Morjaria.
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