Senior leaders from across the NHS, the wider health technology sector and academia have come together at a roundtable hosted by Axiologik, Opencast and techUK to explore what must change for the NHS to become truly prevention-first by 2035.
The panel gathered in Leeds, an internationally recognised centre of excellence for healthcare innovation, to discuss key themes including operating model reform, data access and management, earlier diagnosis and patient empowerment.
The overwhelming consensus was that while digital innovation will play a critical role in enabling preventative care, the biggest barriers are structural – requiring greater bravery to fundamentally rethink NHS operating models.
Participants highlighted the need for greater decentralisation, more joined-up and interoperable care pathways, increased investment in community care, and a shift to patient-centred data ownership and permissions.
The roundtable also explored the scale of the prevention challenge facing the NHS. Currently, only around 12% of health determinants are linked to medical care in the UK, with the remainder shaped by wider determinants such as genetics, behaviour and lifestyle. Late diagnosis of conditions is putting a huge burden on the NHS, and around 20-30% of the UK adult population has an undiagnosed condition.
Much of the discussion focused on transforming the NHS data ecosystem to help identify risk earlier and predict disease trajectory and patient journeys.
Central to the debate were opportunities to:
- Utilise population health ‘digital twin’ virtual models that mirror real-world systems to test interventions and simulate patient journeys. A world-first pilot of this is already taking place in West Yorkshire for kidney disease, and is being run in partnership between Health Innovation Network Yorkshire and Humber, Nexus, the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, and Kidney Research UK.
- Apply AI to primary care and population health data to support earlier detection, automated diagnostics and more targeted testing pathways.
- Shift to a single data system or patient-controlled data models, enabling individuals to have greater visibility and control over how their health data is accessed and shared.
- Rethink commercial models in areas such as genomics medicine by reducing duplication of expensive biological sampling and enabling data to be retained and re-used throughout an individual’s lifetime.
- Expand preventative services in the community through digitally enabled screening and self-testing.
Adrian Stanbury, Director and Co-Founder of Axiologik, co-hosted the roundtable. He comments:
“The NHS is a globally recognised pinnacle of healthcare but becoming prevention-first while it is still structurally designed around sickness represents a challenge. Technology is a critical enabler, but the real challenge is operational and cultural: changing incentives, redesigning pathways, shifting care into communities, and building public trust around the use of data and AI.
“What emerged from this roundtable is that the solutions already exist in pockets across the system. The question now is whether we have the collective bravery to scale them and fundamentally rethink how the NHS operates by 2035.”
Rob Walker, Head of Health and Social Care at techUK, adds:
“If the NHS is serious about becoming truly prevention-first by 2035, technology is essential to this transformation. However, this needs to be alongside a fundamental shift in culture and operating models across the health system – including the bravery to rethink how care is delivered, how organisations collaborate, and how patients are empowered to take greater control of their own health.”
Harry Armstrong, MD at Opencast, says:
“Technology can enable the NHS to transition from a system that primarily reacts to illness to one that actively prevents it. Better use of data, digital platforms and connected services can help clinicians identify risks earlier, intervene sooner and support people before conditions become acute. Prevention-first healthcare is not just about reducing pressure on hospitals; it is about improving the quality of life for millions of people.”
