Category Archives: Health

Lighting a path to a smoke-free future: the government’s plans to end smoking in the UK

Smoking remains one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the UK, with over 200,000 smoking-related deaths each year. With the Tobacco and Vapes Bill currently undergoing its legislative stages in Parliament, carving a clear direction of travel for the future of smoking in the UK, businesses have a unique opportunity to align with the government’s public health ambitions and unlock a wealth of new opportunities as part of the national push to reduce smoking rates.

The landmark bill aims introduce a smoke-free generation by banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, meaning affected individuals will never be legally able to purchase a cigarette. While some argue that this is a ‘nanny state’ intrusion into personal freedoms, the main provisions of the bill have long been discussed and were first trailed by the previous Conservative government. There is therefore a consensus across parliament that this is a necessary measure which will deliver long-term benefits to the general public and a struggling public health system.

The rise in demand for healthier lifestyles and the growing number of people looking to quit smoking present significant opportunities for businesses in the health and wellness sector. Companies offering smoking cessation products like nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs), or even digital health apps designed to support quitting, stand to benefit from growing demand for their services. Moreover, businesses that create products that promote overall wellbeing, such as fitness equipment, health supplements or stress-management tools can provide an alternative for individuals who are trying to improve their health after quitting smoking.

Furthermore, with employee wellbeing being a key focus for this government across a number of fronts, including the Employment Rights Bill, incorporating smoking cessation support into corporate health programmes is essential. Offering incentives for employees to quit smoking or providing access to cessation resources can help improve workplace health, increase productivity and reduce absenteeism due to smoking-related illness. Companies that invest in these types of employee-focused health programmes also benefit from a healthier, more engaged workforce.

It was confirmed in December 2024 that the government is investing an additional £70 million in 2025-26 to support local authority-led smoking cessation services. Given this investment, there is an increasing demand for qualified professionals and organisations that can offer expert advice, counselling and support for individuals attempting to quit smoking. Healthcare providers, private clinics or digital health platforms focused on smoking cessation are well placed to position themselves as a partner to government and highlight how initiatives can be rolled out and improved as ministers progress with their smoke-free ambitions.

To support the public understanding of new legislation, those who can offer both creative campaigns and innovative products aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of smoking, or promoting the benefits of quitting should focus on engaging with integrated care boards (ICBs) as they look to manage local service and improve outcomes. A 2023 report from Action on Smoking and Health found that tobacco control was perceived to be an above average or high priority in 14 of the 29 surveyed ICBs, underlining the necessity of appropriately resourcing ‘stop smoking’ services.

The passage of this legislation is not just a step toward improving public health – it is also a catalyst for innovation and business growth. Companies that can align with these objectives, whether by providing smoking cessation products, supporting corporate health programmes or developing creative campaigns have an opportunity to thrive in an increasingly health-conscious market. Given the government’s overall focus on prevention in its healthcare agenda, it is vital that businesses engage with the Department of Health and Social Care, ICBs, NHS trusts and other stakeholders to provide expertise on the rollout and efficacy of anti-smoking campaigns that will form a crucial part of this government’s potentially transformative approach to public health.

Policy Spotlight: Health

GK Strategy is pleased to share its ‘Health Policy Spotlight’ report which sets out some of the key health policy trends to watch out for in 2025 as we look ahead to the government’s eagerly anticipated 10-Year Health Plan.

The report can be accessed here: Health Policy Spotlight – GK Strategy – March 2025

Unpacking the government’s 2025 mandate to NHS England

At the end of January, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting delivered the government’s 2025 mandate to NHS England. This is a crucial document which sets out the health secretary’s goals for the health service over the next 12 months. It also provides all-important detail about the government’s emerging views on reform of the health and social care system ahead of the much-anticipated 10-Year Health Plan, due to be published later this year – likely in June or July.

The findings of Lord Darzi’s investigation into the health service, commissioned and published in the weeks immediately following Labour’s general election victory, have unsurprisingly been hugely influential in shaping the development of Streeting’s inaugural mandate to NHS England. The health secretary has said the mandate will help address the urgent challenges identified by the Darzi investigation and includes a ‘sharp focus on improving efficiency and productivity.’ Streeting again warns that the ‘culture of routine overspending without consequences’ is over.

At the heart of the 2025 mandate are three key aims: reducing waiting times, improving access to primary care, and improving urgent and emergency care. To reduce waiting times, Streeting has said he is refocusing the NHS on making progress towards an 18-week standard, whereby 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, which will work in tandem with the steps set out in the government’s Elective Reform Plan published earlier this year. Patient choice is also at the heart of this agenda. The mandate emphasises the importance of implementing a cultural shift in the NHS to prioritise the patient experience in reducing waiting times, including through the use of the private sector to enable greater patient control over their treatment.

Improving access to primary care is the second key aim of the mandate. This mirrors one of the three strategic shifts the health secretary wants to see as a result of his reform agenda: shifting more treatment from hospitals to communities. Streeting is clear that primary care services are the front door to the health service but for too many people it is not possible to get a timely appointment, if at all. The mandate requires NHS England to enable patients to access general practice more quickly and tackle ‘unwarranted’ variation in services provided by general practice.

Improving urgent and emergency care is the mandate’s third aim. The mandate labels ambulance response times and waiting times in A&E as ‘unacceptable’. While the health secretary recognises that transforming these services will take time, he does state that a start must be made ahead of the government publishing its strategy to improve urgent and emergency care later this year. The mandate therefore includes a specific focus on reducing long wait times to improve patient safety, experience and outcomes.

The ambitions set out by Streeting in his first mandate are laudable. The bleak fiscal situation means the health secretary will have a hawk-like focus on monitoring performance against budgets. This is in recognition that the uptick in funding that the Department of Health and Social Care received at the October budget is unlikely to point to further significant cash injections in the immediate future. For providers, it also underscores the importance of positioning themselves as a high-quality, value for money partner to ICBs and NHS Trusts in delivering strong outcomes for patients.

If you would like to discuss the 2025 NHS mandate in more detail and what it means for businesses in the sector, then please contact Hugo Tuckett (hugo@gkstrategy.com) or Arth Malani (arth@gkstrategy.com).

Sugar, we’re going down: is the review of the soft drinks industry levy a taste of things to come?

The health secretary has warned he will “steamroll” the food and drink industry by launching a new plan to tackle obesity. In an interview with The Guardian setting out his priorities for the year, he said the move is part of a broader focus on preventing ill health rather than simply treating it. The plan is being worked up across government departments and the sector will soon be invited to feed into a consultation process.

Is this political rhetoric indicative of a heavier-handed approach to public health than under the previous iterations of government? Our gut instinct is yes, but proof of the pudding will be in the government’s response to the Soft Drink Industry Levy (SDIL) review. Launched last October, health and treasury ministers are considering revisions to the existing sugar content thresholds, including increasing the scope to milk-based and milk substitute products, and the levy rates.

Although the SDIL is widely considered to be a successful and effective policy intervention, the UK’s sugar consumption remains significantly above recommended levels, especially among children. By lowering the sugar thresholds and widening the scope of products, more soft drink producers will be impacted by regulations and will be forced to either reformulate products or see their production costs increase. The review will be completed in the spring with changes enacted in the 2025 Budget, so producers should be closely following policy developments throughout the course of this year. The government’s response to the review will set the mood music for the National Food Strategy so this is a crunch point for all those in the sector, not just soft drinks producers.

Beyond the health merits for cracking down on sugar content, there are political and economic factors at play. Politically, the Prime Minister insists that 2025 is a year of delivery after a slow and difficult start to his tenure. Further state intervention in food and drink markets in the name of public health would play to a large section of the labour backbenchers. Party morale is likely to be put to the test in the coming months as the nation’s economic woes continue. This is where HM Treasury comes into the picture; amid turbulent financial markets and disappointing economic growth, the Comprehensive Spending Review will be an uncomfortable experience for the Chancellor and her team. Raising revenue from the levy could ease some of the pressures that will undoubtedly fall on the schools budget, which the levy supports.

For industry there is a fine balance to strike. Full resistance to public health reform would be counterproductive and leaves a bad taste in the mouths of consumers. Developing and maintaining an open, constructive dialogue with government, including showcasing innovative reformulations, will be a far more effective approach. Framed in this way, industry will be able to better make the case that a proportionate approach to SDIL and wider reforms will deliver positive health and economic change.

If you would like to discuss the sugar levy and the government’s public health agenda in more detail, please contact GK Associate Director David Mitchell at: david.mitchell@gkstrategy.com

Maternal Health: Where does the government go from here?

In September 2024, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting labelled the state of maternity services in England a ‘cause for national shame’, describing it as one of the ’biggest issues that keeps him awake at night’.

His comments followed the publication of a damning report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which brought together findings from 131 inspections and found that almost half of maternity units inspected were rated as ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. The report called for increased national action and ring-fenced investment into services, warning that poor quality NHS maternity care will become normalised if action is not taken.

In January 2024, the APPG on Birth Trauma launched an inquiry to investigate the factors in maternity care that contribute to birth trauma and develop policy recommendations. By May, the APPG’s report, Listen to Mums: Ending the Postcode Lottery on Perinatal Care, presented findings from over 1,300 submissions by women recounting harrowing stories of inadequate and traumatic care. The report identified an overwhelming narrative that women felt belittled, ignored, and neglected at a time when they were most vulnerable, and concluded that a base standard in maternity services is needed across the UK.

Streeting has inherited a bleak forecast: urgent need for reform; mounting pressures on the NHS as a whole; and a poor fiscal climate. So where does Labour go from here?

Labour’s 2024 election manifesto promised to ensure that NHS trusts failing on maternity care are ‘robustly supported into rapid improvement’, to train thousands more midwives as part of the NHS Workforce Plan, and to set an explicit target to close the black and Asian maternal mortality gap.

However, the party’s manifesto lacked any concrete policies aimed at fixing the broken maternity system. This means all eyes now turn to the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, due to be published in spring this year, as the potential roadmap for change.

While the plan will focus on prevention, the transition from hospital to community care, and the digitalisation of health services, the government has given no indication of whether it will give maternal health the attention it desperately needs.

Despite rising demand, current services are stretched and under-resourced, meaning many women face significant delays receiving the support they need, if they receive it at all. Investing in early intervention, services that understand the needs of new and expectant mothers, and workforce growth is essential to ensuring that patients can access timely and effective support.

Various campaign groups are putting pressure on Streeting to make improving maternal health services a priority. The Maternal Mental Health Alliance is calling for all parties to demonstrate their support for new and expectant mothers. The Alliance claims ‘there is a vital opportunity for the new government to create positive change for current and future generations.’

The 10-Year Health Plan provides the government with the opportunity to address the alarming findings from both the CQC and APPG on Birth Trauma, restore public confidence in NHS maternity services, and show its commitment to fixing the systemic issues within maternal care. Inadequate support has devastating effects on families and adds huge costs to the UK economy, meaning it is vital that organisations engage with the government during the development of the 10-Year-Health Plan to ensure maternity services receive the focus they need. By leveraging industry platforms and policy development support, advocacy campaigns can emphasise the importance of maternal health and the challenges faced by women.

To discuss the government’s plans for maternal health in more detail, please contact Annabelle Black at annabelle@gkstrategy.com.

The government and mental health – what has happened so far?

Around two million adults and children are currently stuck on NHS waiting lists seeking mental health support. NHS England estimates the cost of untreated mental health to the UK economy to be £117.9 billion every year, taking into account those who are unfit to work because of their condition. Previous administrations have attempted to address this issue, in particular former Prime Minister Theresa May’s commissioning of the Wessely Review, but seemingly little substantive progress has taken place.

In opposition, Labour’s journey to office set off to a questionable start on mental health. The Party’s dedicated shadow mental health minister Rosena Allin-Khan resigned in September 2023 citing Starmer’s decision to remove the mental health portfolio from the shadow cabinet.

Since then, the Party has made no secret of its intention to overhaul what has been described as a mental health system in crisis. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer vowed in his Party’s manifesto to reform and modernise the outdated Mental Health Act 1983, recruit 8,500 new mental health staff, and place mental health professionals in schools. Seven months on from Labour’s landslide general election victory, how can progress be described?

In the King’s Speech, the government brought forward the Mental Health Bill which seeks to address unnecessary detentions for people with a learning disability or autism and end the use of criminal justice cells to detain those who need care under the Mental Health Act. Ministers have said that the Bill, which is currently being scrutinised in the House of Lords, will ensure that all patients have a care and treatment plan tailored to their needs.

In addition, the autumn budget committed £26 million of investment in new mental health crisis centres to help ease pressure on A&E departments. This is due to the increase in patients presenting in hospitals because of a lack of accessible mental health services.

While these initial measures are targeted at the most severe and urgent cases of poor mental health, the government’s wider ambition for mental health looks to incorporate its overarching focus on health prevention. The government’s 10-year health plan, due to be published in spring 2025, will be underpinned by “treatment to prevention” as a core pillar. It is also likely to contain further details on how mental health prevention will be included within this shift towards preventative care.

There is evident cross-party support for improving mental health services, and parties of all colours recognise the devastating impact that maintaining the status quo will have, both on individuals and wider society.

The Liberal Democrat-chaired Health and Social Care Select Committee announced in December 2024 the launch of a new inquiry into community mental health services. This is likely to reveal further improvements required in the system which will help shape the government’s approach to reform.

It is vital that providers and businesses engage with the committee’s inquiry which will be vital in shaping the development of policy in this area. The government must get mental health care right if it hopes to see any pressure on the NHS reduced or make a dent in the ever-growing list of workers signed off due to long-term sickness.