Thought leaders debate the future of the health ecosystem

Supported by health infrastructure specialist, Archus, a panel of five thought leaders from across the interdisciplinary fields of healthcare and urban health policy and practice, explored the challenges, and the barriers, to transforming the future health of the nation.

Following a welcome address from EHD programme director, Sunand Prasad, panel chair, Richard Darch, founder of Archus, began proceedings with a call for the panel to speak openly about what was needed to design a more holistic ecosystem approach to health creation and healthcare delivery.

commented Lord Nigel Crisp, independent cross-bench member of the House of Lords who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health. 

“Health is made at home. Hospitals are for repairs,” he added, referring to the African expression.

Richard Beeken, former CEO of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, described the development of the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, which he said was “more than a hospital – it’s a care model”. The hospital, which opened in October 2024, not only provides hospital and community care services but also aims to contribute to the regeneration of an area where depravation is high and life expectancy low and declining. The Trust worked in collaboration with the borough council, the Canal and River Trust, local residents, business and voluntary groups (‘Near Neighbours’) and other local organisations to help create a healthier community in the Sandwell and Birmingham corridor.

Lord Victor Adebowale, speaking in a personal capacity, said that services need to be provided to improve the health of poorer people. He suggested that clinicians be trained in preventative healthcare and how to work with communities. "We need to work from the ground up, not from the top down,” he added.

Design, he said, has to be meaningful – and its outcome measurable and explainable.

Clare Wildfire, Global cities lead at Mott Macdonald, said many people are not aware of the impact of design on the community and how it can help to address ill health, including social isolation and obesity. In Barcelona, she said, the creation of car-free ‘Superblocks’ has resulted in a 20 per cent reduction in premature deaths. Medellin, Colombia’s ‘green corridors’ have both improved the city’s air quality and reduced its temperature, while a study on the impact of planting street trees in Toronto, Canada showed that on streets with a higher density of trees the improvement in wellbeing was equivalent to an increase in income and a reduction in age. Wildfire emphasised the importance of gathering metrics on the benefits not only to incentivise the right behaviours but also to get the capital to flow.

Henrik Schødts, CEO of not a box, Denmark, said that Denmark had recently approved a programme of healthcare reform, which he hoped would enable the country’s healthcare design to become more systemic in its approach, moving from a primary focus on hospital treatment to collaboration and engagement with the community.

Other themes that shaped the event, which was attended by over 130 practitioners, researchers and policy thinkers from both the healthcare design and urban health fields, included the UK Government’s plan for 1.5 million new homes. Exploring how the NHS alone cannot solve the nation’s health crisis, the panel addressed how addressing the wider determinants of health, such as poor housing, which has been the cause of many diseases, was important in parallel with the need to consider modern housebuilding methods to both achieve the Government’s target and ensure that the housing is affordable and decent.

Richard Darch concluded.

The European Healthcare Design 2025 Congress, ‘Beyond the hospital: Designing the future health ecosystem’ will take place 9-11 June at the Royal College of Physicians in London, tickets are currently on sale here.