Prevention is the New Cure

In this episode of Prevention is the New Cure, former Health Ministers Steve Brine and James Bethell chat to Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King's Fund.

Sarah Woolnough argues that health is not made in hospitals — it is shaped by housing, education, environment and regulation. The discussion explores whether the UK needs a fundamental shift away from a “sickness service” towards long-term health investment.

🔍 Key topics include:
Whether Keir Starmer’s proposed social media age limits represent real reform or political signalling
The impact of the Online Safety Act 2023 on child protection
A new £20m addiction and gambling prevention fund
Why health tech innovation struggles inside the NHS
Whether NICE’s new HealthTech Access Programme could transform adoption
Why prevention always loses to acute pressures like A&E and GP access
The political risks of continuing to expand NHS spending without structural reform

Plus: why dog ownership may reduce dementia risk by 40%.

This episode celebrates the third anniversary of the podcast!
Steve and James look back on the different iterations of the show and reflect on three years of the best health and politics podcast around!

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Did you know? This podcast is one of the top health and social care podcasts around. Help make us #1 by following our show today.

This episode is produced by Shortbread Media; production Tim Pont / Calum Macdonald.
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In this episode of Prevention is the New Cure, former Health Ministers Steve Brine and James Bethell sit down with Sir Jim Mackey, Chief Executive of NHS England, for a wide-ranging and candid discussion about the future of the NHS.

Sir Jim addresses the crisis facing NHS demand, the limits of hospital-centric care, and why prevention, neighbourhood health systems, and disruptive reform are essential if the NHS is to survive the next decade.

🔍 Key topics include:
Why the NHS “can’t carry on doing things the same way”
The reality behind the 10-Year NHS Plan
Shifting funding from hospitals into community and preventative care
The future of GP health checks — and why GPs are divided
Can prevention really reduce demand on hospitals?
NHS productivity, technology, and patient-owned data
Lessons from Northumbria’s whole-system health model
The role of community pharmacy in prevention
Resident doctors’ strikes and workforce morale
Maternity safety, regulation, and patient trust
How political instability impacts NHS decision-making
oh and his beloved Newcastle Football Club!

This episode goes beyond slogans and gets into the hard trade-offs facing health leaders: money, workforce, culture, and whether the NHS can truly shift from crisis response to prevention.

🎧 Listen, subscribe, and join the conversation
📩 Email: [email protected]
📱 WhatsApp the show: 0333 404 6507

Did you know? This podcast is one of the top health and social care podcasts around. Help make us #1 by following our show today.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special episode this week of the health and politics podcast, Prevention is the new cure, as Ministers finally publish the National Cancer Plan.

Steve & James talk exclusively to NHS National Clinical Director, Professor Peter Johnson, about the ambition which says 75% of people diagnosed from 2035 will survive long term and meeting the 62-days cancer waiting time standard by the end of this Parliament. In a wide-ranging conversation, they also talk wider cancer prevention, multi-cancer detection tests and the cancer workforce.

And Professor Johnson responds to today's story that testing menstrual blood for signs of cervical cancer could be a new and accurate way of screening for the disease.

In their look at this week's main news in health and politics, the former Ministers consider reports in The Times (£) which claim an 86,000 drop in waiting lists heralded by Ministers was achieved only by removing thousands of patients from the waiting list through a process known as ‘validation'. And they consider the political implications of the BMA's ballot renewal which could see further strike action by Resident Doctors.

You can find former episodes via Podfollow and get us on all our social media channel via LinkTr.

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Co-hosts: Steve Brine & James Bethell
Episode producer: Calum Macdonald

This episode is produced as part of the Shortbread Media family of podcasts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve & James return with episode 82 of the health and politics podcast, Prevention is the new cure.

This week, to mark Stroke Prevention Day on Thursday, the guys talk to Juliet Bouverie from the Stroke Association about signs, symptoms and red flags.

And they look ahead to the long-awaited National Cancer Plan which is expected to be published next week. What can we expect from the first plan since 2018?

Also on this episode; the WHO confirms the UK has lost its measles elimination status, James speaking at the counter-fraud conference next month and NHS England is set to significantly enhance its bowel cancer screening programme, aiming to detect thousands more cases at an earlier, more treatable stage.

You can access the archive via Podfollow and find us on all social at our LinkTree page.

You can email the team - [email protected]

Thanks for listening!
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Steve and James return with episode 81 of the health and politics podcast, Prevention is the new cure.

They chat just hours after James (Lord Bethell) led the charge on a debate in the House of Lords which saw Peers vote through an amendment which would ban under-16's from social media across the UK.

Also, as nearly a quarter of hospitals in England report waiting times have worsened since the government published its plan to tackle the backlog a year ago, the pair discuss whether Ministers have chosen the right path given A&E waits - and corridor care - continue to hit the headlines.

And, given the ongoing broader debate around immigration policy as the main parties chase Reform, Steve's Thursday rant focuses on health and care workforce shortages and asks whether we have a race to the bottom healthcare recruitment which is harming the service in the short-term.

Finally, in good news corner, Steve and James talk about an international trial that is examining whether a finger-prick blood test called Bio-Hermes-002 could be used to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease. BBC News story link.

You can email us : [email protected]

You can listen to our archive via Podfollow and find our social media channel via LinkTree. And our You Tube channel is here.

Thanks for listening!

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