Manufacturing the future: could healthcare data help rebalance the UK’s economy?

This essay is the fruit of a collaboration between Future Care Capital and think-tank Reform, co-authored by Annemarie Naylor MBE and Ele Harwich.

They explore the growing interest in the data about the 55 million patients for whom the NHS cares. These “cradle to grave” datasets are expected to play a key role in the discovery of new treatments and technological solutions to the growing demands placed upon our healthcare system.

Data will be crucial to the success of the government’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy. It has the potential to save lives and boost the UK’s economy. EY estimates that benefits worth £9.6bn per annum could be unlocked from the use of patient data in years to come. The question, then, is how to unleash the benefits, both economic and medical, from the UK’s unique health data sets.

The UK could learn from countries which are already powering ahead in the data-driven healthcare revolution.

The essay makes recommendations to the Government highlighting the need for investment in the cleanup, linking and labelling of healthcare records. It also suggests the need to invest in better digital infrastructure, to up-skill the workforce and to protect citizens’ data rights.