Party conferences 2025

This briefing summarises our activity at this year’s party conferences and provides information about key announcements made by the parties.

NHS Providers is a politically neutral organisation and attends each of the main party conferences to maintain and develop relationships with key leaders and to highlight the achievements and concerns of our members.

We hosted events at Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative party conferences and attended the Reform UK conference to gather insights into their emerging policies.  

Attending these conferences gave us a real insight and feel for how the parties are developing their priorities and policies. Labour politicians seemed upbeat to see the NHS improving under their watch and to have recently launched the 10-year health plan.

The Liberal Democrats were strongly supportive of neighbourhood health and local authority involvement in this area. At Conservative party conference, it was clear that politicians were in listening mode and starting again with their thinking on the NHS.

The Reform UK conference showed that the NHS is not currently on their agenda, but it is concerning to see some of the views on vaccination which were aired at their conference. 

NHS Confederation and NHS Providers hosted a joint panel event titled ‘Care closer to home: how neighbourhood health can deliver better population outcomes’. Daniel Elkeles chaired the discussion.

Also on the panel was Helen Morgan MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for health and social care; Ruth Rankine, director of the Primary Care Network and senior responsible officer for Neighbourhood Health at the NHS Confederation; and Jess McGregor, president of the Association of Directors for Adult Social Services (ADASS).  

Panellists discussed what is needed from the government to bring services closer to the communities they serve, and what the key messages are that need to be landed with the government on delivering a neighbourhood health service.

They also reflected upon how the reorganisation of local government will impact on the delivery of care closer to home. There were also questions around how to move from ambition to action on neighbourhood-based care; securing stable funding for social care; and exploring how strong cross-sector partnerships can be established to deliver care closer to home.  

Daniel also had meetings with a variety of parliamentarians and senior stakeholders across the health and care sector. 

We hosted an invite-only roundtable discussion attended by senior health and social care stakeholders as well as Lewis Atkinson, MP for Sunderland Central and former senior NHS manager. The title of the session was ‘Scaling up and joining up neighbourhood health care to tackle inequalities’. Daniel Elkeles chaired the session. 

During the roundtable, attendees covered three topics: hopes for neighbourhood health; policy changes that would enable their hopes to be realised; and how best to measure success. 

Participants outlined their hopes for neighbourhood health – communities should be free to shape the footprints that work best for them. Primary care should be at the heart of neighbourhood health, with continuity of care for patients a top priority.

Hopes that neighbourhood health will make strides in tackling health inequalities and bring about a renewed focus on children’s health were also voiced. 

Policy changes needed to realise these hopes were discussed. These included the need for long-term stability, sufficient time to build trust and relationships, and promoting local innovation. The need for cross-government action to reduce health inequalities was also highlighted. 

Measuring the successes of neighbourhood health will be vital and attendees agreed that it would be necessary to focus on different stages of people’s lives.

For example, an increase in the number of children present at school; more adults in work; an increase in healthy life expectancy and more people dying in the place they feel comfortable. These would go alongside patient reported measures of satisfaction with the NHS.  

Daniel also had meetings with a variety of parliamentarians and senior stakeholders across the health and care sector. He met members of the House of Commons Health and Social Care committee and the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group.

In addition to NHS Providers’ private roundtable, Daniel also spoke on a panel on mental health, where he spoke about issues relating to the mental health workforce.  

NHS Confederation and NHS Providers hosted a joint panel event titled ‘Funding the future: the potential for private investment in the NHS’. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation, chaired the discussion. Daniel Elkeles joined this panel alongside the shadow secretary of state for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon. Stuart Andrew MP; and Laura Rooney, chief strategy officer at Health Innovation Manchester.  

The event started with remarks from Matthew Taylor who stressed the ongoing work from both NHS Confederation and NHS Providers around private finance.

The discussion with the audience highlighted many examples of private partnership working with the NHS including an example from one of Daniel’s trust visits, where a digital patient record is being used in the emergency department of Leicester Royal Infirmary to improve urgent care pathways. Another example covered was the work being done in Greater Manchester to research how to commercialise NHS data assets. 

Many challenges and possible solutions were identified to better enable public private partnerships. Laura Rooney stressed the importance of the NHS learning from the life sciences and private health sectors, as their insights can be used to inform where technology and innovation can improve NHS services.  

Stuart Andrew agreed that partnership working was the way forward and emphasised that the NHS estate needs to match the 21st century care that staff are trying to deliver. Rather than making speedy, politically charged announcements, Andrew said that he wants to engage health organisations in formulating policy.

He is looking forward to working with stakeholders in the health and care space, and also confirmed that he is committed to the NHS remaining free at the point of use; he confirmed that he agrees with the ambitions outlined by the government in the 10-year health plan, but is concerned by the lack of detail on delivery.

Key speeches 

In his speech to conference, party leader Sir Ed Davey spoke of his vision for the UK to lead the world in the fight against cancer. He pledged that the Liberal Democrats would continue to push for the publication of the 10-year Cancer Plan, and if elected would pass a Cancer Survival Research Act to ensure funding for research into the deadliest cancers.

Davey also praised the potential of mRNA vaccines which can be tailored to attack certain cancer cells to prevent them spreading. He stated that, if elected, the Liberal Democrats would invest in these vaccines and explore their potential for treating cancer.     

Health and care announcements 

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon. Wes Streeting MP announced the extension of online appointment requests in general practice so patients can request appointments at any point during the day. This also comes alongside £1 billion in extra funding for general practice and 2000 extra GPs.

He highlighted the government’s backing for the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for care workers, starting with £500 million to deliver better pay, terms and conditions for care workers. He announced that the building of new neighbourhood health centres will be funded through the reinvestment of billions saved from cutting waste, and will be built in the communities with the deepest deprivation.   

Other key speeches and announcements   

Health and care announcements 

In his speech to conference the shadow secretary of state for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon. Stuart Andrew MP, announced: 

Other key speeches and announcements   

In her speech to conference the Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon. Kemi Badenoch MP announced: