Programme

Welcome and introduction:

A make or break year for the NHS and the government (Alastair McLellan)

How the NHS will run in 2026 (Dave West)

Challenges & opportunities in the mental health sector (Annabelle Collins)

2026 will see the NHS at the very centre of public attention. The reforms set out in the 10-Year Health Plan will begin to be rolled out, and the legislation to embed them will pass through parliament and into law. Our opening session will examine the many challenges and pitfalls this will present and offer some guidance on how suppliers should navigate them. The following two break out sessions will explore the NHS’s main priority for 2026 – the recovery of elective waiting times and provider finances – and what the service will be spending its money on.

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, HSJ deputy editor Dave West, and HSJ deputy bureau chief, Annabelle Collins

Stream 1: The recovery challenge for acute trusts

The government has made just one, specific pledge about the NHS: to return elective waiting times to the national standard of 18 weeks by the end of this parliament. 2026 will be the year where this promise will be tested – perhaps to breaking point.

Productivity and patient flow must be transformed – largely without the aid of any help from a shift to community care. At the same time, the sector must find a way back to financial balance. To achieve these goals, trusts will need the support of their suppliers.

This session will unpick the scale and complexity of the challenge and suggest the tactics suppliers should adopt to help the service meet it. 

Bureau Chief James Illman and Senior Correspondent  Matthew Discombe.

Stream 2: What will the NHS buy in 2026?

Money will be tight in 2026 – but the NHS will spending big on technology.

The government will also be pressing the service to assist the life sciences sector in boosting the country’s economic growth. Investment in the service’s physical estate will be concentrated on developing community facilities. At the same time, the constant revolution that is NHS procurement reform will roll on.

This session will explore where the service’s discretionary budget will be spent, when and by who.

Bureau chief Ben Clover, senior insights correspondent Jack Serle, and senior correspondent Zoe Tidman

Stream 1: What will the NHS buy in 2026?

Money will be tight in 2026 – but the NHS will spending big on technology.

The government will also be pressing the service to assist the life sciences sector in boosting the country’s economic growth. Investment in the service’s physical estate will be concentrated on developing community facilities. At the same time, the constant revolution that is NHS procurement reform will roll on.

This session will explore where the service’s discretionary budget will be spent, when and by who.

Bureau chief Ben Clover, senior insights correspondent Jack Serle, and senior correspondent Zoe Tidman

Stream 2: The recovery challenge for acute trusts

The government has made just one, specific pledge about the NHS: to return elective waiting times to the national standard of 18 weeks by the end of this parliament. 2026 will be the year where this promise will be tested – perhaps to breaking point.

Productivity and patient flow must be transformed – largely without the aid of any help from a shift to community care. At the same time, the sector must find a way back to financial balance. To achieve these goals, trusts will need the support of their suppliers.

This session will unpick the scale and complexity of the challenge and suggest the tactics suppliers should adopt to help the service meet it. 

Bureau Chief James Illman and Senior Correspondent  Matthew Discombe.