Bridging Vision to Reality: How the NHS 2035 White Paper Aligns with ATMP Horizons at the Health Data Forum 2025

In an era where healthcare innovation is accelerating at unprecedented speed, the recently released white paper, The Future State of Health and Healthcare in 2035, authored by Lord Ara Darzi, Georgia Butterworth, and Peter Howitt, offers a compelling blueprint for transforming the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, this document—emerging from the Future State Programme—envisions a proactive, personalised, and preventive healthcare system powered by seven interconnected technologies. As we approach the Health Data Forum Global Hybrid Summit 2025, its new Trends House stage on "ATMP Horizons" provides a timely platform to translate these ambitions into actionable strategies, particularly for Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) like gene and cell therapies.

For NHS leaders, clinical commissioners, and policy-makers from organisations such as NHS Wales, NHS England, and the Joint Commissioning Committee, the white paper underscores the urgency of implementation. It highlights England's unique assets—world-class datasets, scientific talent, and the NHS's public trust—while warning of challenges like fragmented digital infrastructure and slow adoption of innovations. Central to this vision are the "seven pillars": integrated data as the foundation; an evolved NHS App as the digital front door; GLP-1 breakthroughs for obesity; wearable revolutions for continuous monitoring; universal genomic screening; AI for productivity and patient empowerment; and robotics for precision care. These elements promise to shift from reactive treatment to predictive prevention, potentially halving obesity rates, preventing millions of chronic diseases, and saving billions through efficiency gains.

This forward-looking framework resonates deeply with the Trends House agenda at the Health Data Forum, hosted at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on September 25, 2025. The stage, themed around ATMP Horizons, will explore commissioning pathways, patient outcomes, logistics, and innovation governance—directly echoing the white paper's emphasis on genomics and data-driven personalisation (Pillar 5: The Genetic Gateway). For instance, universal genomic screening at birth, as proposed, could leverage ATMPs for tailored interventions, using polygenic risk scores and pharmacogenomics to predict and mitigate diseases decades in advance. Dr. Hannah Crocker's opening keynote on real-world outcomes in advanced therapies, drawing from her role at the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee, will frame how patient-reported data transforms commissioning decisions—a practical step toward the white paper's call for interoperable data ecosystems (Pillar 1).

Academics and researchers from institutions like Cardiff University, HDR UK, SAIL Databank, i-HD, and SIB will find synergies in the event's focus on translational research and real-world evidence. The spotlight talk by Dr. Andrew Roddam of EveryONE Medicines and the high-level panel with leaders from ATMP providers and patient advocates will delve into scaling ATMPs globally. This aligns with the white paper's integration of AI (Pillar 6) to automate administrative burdens and enhance decision-making, as well as robotics (Pillar 7) for precise therapy delivery, ensuring equitable access and addressing ethical concerns like data privacy and bias.

Patient organisations and public engagement networks, including use MY data, EUPATI, and Genetic Alliance UK, are integral to this dialogue. The white paper stresses patient-powered innovation, and Trends House amplifies the patient voice in ATMP delivery models, fostering inclusive governance that prevents inequalities. Meanwhile, industry and civic tech innovators—from cloud providers to genomics platforms and digital therapeutics firms—can engage with system readiness and data flows, building on the white paper's advocacy for public-private partnerships to realise ROI from preventive savings.

International delegates from Europe, MENA, India, and the Americas will appreciate the summit's blend of high-level dialogue and grounded case studies, mirroring the white paper's global perspective. As Lord Darzi notes in the foreword, the UK's leadership in innovations like the COVID-19 vaccine positions it to pioneer this transformation, but collaboration is key to avoiding silos.

The Health Data Forum's Social Tech & Health Innovation Village, located at the President's Room, Principality Stadium in Cardiff and online, offers a space to move from vision to implementation. As we stand on the threshold of this new era, joining these conversations is essential. 

Register now for the Trends House at https://www.healthdataforum.org/ and contribute to shaping a healthcare future that is not just possible, but inevitable.

References

A vision of healthcare in 2035 – from wearables to robots

Authors: A. Darzi, G. Butterworth, P. Howitt 

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/265513/vision-healthcare-2035-from-wearables-robots/