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Fit for Future: Collaboration, Courage, and Community in NHS Workforce Transformation
Nov 25, 2025
As the NHS stands at a crossroads, the need for transformation has never been more urgent—or more complex. On the 16th September 2025, IQVIA and Royal Holloway, University of London, brought together leaders, clinicians, academics, and innovators for the “Fit for Future: Providing the Workforce and Foundations to enable Health and Care Transformation” event. The day was more than a conference; it was a call to action for everyone invested in the future of health and care in the UK.
The day underscored that the challenges facing the NHS - workforce shortages, digital disruption, and shifting patient needs - cannot be solved in silos. Instead, they demand new partnerships, bold thinking, and a willingness to reimagine what’s possible.
Rethinking the Workforce: Beyond “More Doctors”
The day opened by challenging the idea of needing “more doctors” to solve the issues facing the NHS. The NHS workforce plan must move beyond the idea that more doctors is the solution to reducing waiting lists and preparing the workforce to be fit for the future. Instead, they must focus not only on the mantra of “train, retain, reform”, as well as embracing new roles, skills, ways of working - rooted in prevention, community, and digital innovation.
The future NHS workforce will be multi-disciplinary, flexible, and deeply embedded in local communities. It’s about empowering people at every level to lead change, not just deliver care.
Three Shifts for a Sustainable NHS
There is an urgent need to “shift left”- moving care closer to home, investing in primary and community care, and building neighbourhood-based models. The pandemic showed what’s possible with virtual wards and hospital-at-home programmes, but scaling these innovations requires investment, collaboration, and a willingness to break down organisational barriers.
The NHS has long measured success by activity—appointments, procedures and waiting times, however there should be a new focus on outcomes: population health, prevention, and staff and patient wellbeing. This means investing in data, research, and evaluation, but also learning from “positive deviants”—communities that achieve better outcomes against the odds.
Another point that was highlighted is that transformation cannot be dictated from the centre. Local systems need the freedom to innovate and the accountability to deliver. This includes empowering staff, listening to their concerns, and co-producing change with patients and communities.
Listening to the Workforce: Culture, Skills, and Change
Staff burnout and low morale are real barriers to change. During the event, we were joined by Kerry Hibberd, Director of Insight and Feedback at IQVIA who outlined the below statistics, and stressed the importance of listening to staff, understanding their anxieties, and why involving them in decision-making is crucial. Additionally, Kerry discussed how flexible working, psychological safety, and visible leadership were highlighted as key drivers of engagement and retention.
The above areas are likely to influence morale and retention, particularly when considered with the scores below.
Embracing Technology—But Not at the Expense of Humanity
Digital tools, AI, and data integration offer huge potential to reduce bureaucracy, personalise care, and empower patients. However, during one of the panels, our guest speakers stressed the importance of not losing sight of the human element of health and care: continuity, trust, and face-to-face relationships remain central to effective healthcare, especially for the most vulnerable. Building trust with patients is key.
Community, Prevention, and the Wider Determinants of Health
Of the recurring themes were the importance of looking beyond the NHS at both integration and the wider determinants of health: housing, education, food systems, and social connection. Community health workers, local partnerships, and “positive deviants” (communities that achieve better outcomes than expected) were all cited as models to learn from.
During the event, one speaker highlighted how the fragmentation of healthcare systems can lead to gaps in patient care and workforce inefficiencies. This was illustrated by the story of a patient who, after a virtual GP consultation and prescription, became increasingly incapacitated and fell through the cracks between district nursing, occupational therapy, and hospital services due to siloed protocols and lack of cross-system coordination. There was an urge for a systems-thinking approach and to address these issues by improving information flows, joint funding, flexible workforce roles, shared population outcomes, and shifting paradigms from illness care to health creation. This would ultimately emphasise the need for proactive, system-spanning capabilities and collaborative accountability to build a future-fit healthcare workforce.
In order to achieve a sustainable, effective NHS, we must be bold. That means:
- Investing in community and prevention, not just hospitals and treatment.
- Measuring what matters - outcomes, not just activity.
- Empowering staff and communities to lead change.
- Embracing new technologies but never losing sight of the human touch.
- Breaking down boundaries between organisations, professions, and sectors.
The future of the NHS workforce is not just about numbers, but about culture, skills, and the courage to do things differently. Let’s put the neighbour back into neighbourhood, and the humanity back into health.
At IQVIA, we are committed to building partnerships across the healthcare system and academia to drive key advancements for health and care improvements. Together we strive to deliver transformative benefits to improving population outcomes, and driving both workforce transformation and system change. Let’s make this vision a reality - connect with us and be part of the change.
Join us in shaping the future of healthcare.
This blog is inspired by the discussions and insights from the Fit for Future event, hosted by IQVIA and Royal Holloway, University of London, September 2025. For more, visit https://www.events.iqvia.com/event/FitForTheFuture25/summary.