Reflections from NHS Confed Expo 2025
Duncan
VSNW Board Member and We Are Survivors Chief Executive, Duncan Craig OBE, attended this year’s NHS Confed Expo and has shared with us his reflections.
As you know, NHS Confed Expo has taken place over the last two days. Whilst it’s impossible to give you a complete breakdown of everything, I can give you my thoughts and summary (as a delegate) that may help you think about the direction of travel within your organisation in regard to health.
The NHS Confederation is the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Members include Hospitals, Trusts, NHS providers, and the VCFSE.
A powerful start
The opening of the Confed, by Lord Victor Adebowale, set the tone for the two days. Lord Adebowale uncomfortably acknowledged the pending change within NHS and NHS England and what that means for staff, which very much put a heaviness in the air.
“And let’s be really honest for a moment – with changes at NHS England and across services, we know some of you won’t be here next year. There might not be roles for you, despite our experience and dedication to our communities. And for that I’m sorry, so I want to thank you now whilst I have the chance, for all that you have done for the health and care of others. We don’t take it for granted.”
As Victor closed the welcome, he talked about valuing people, and all people. He gave a moving example of this in talking about a close family member who passed away at the age of 92 very recently and how she was a nurse for so many years but her passing was not the dignified death it should have been.
“She got a black service, not an NHS service. So I have to address the inequity that still exists within the NHS, in terms of the experiences that people who look like me continue to receive. It just hasn't got any better. It is not acceptable that someone who looks like me, on average waits 20 minutes longer in A&E than white patients. To achieve an inclusive, equitable NHS we need an inclusive equitable culture from top to bottom.”
He then went on to say “and when I say valuing people, I mean everyone. I stand with my trans colleagues, and our trans patients in these incredibly uncertain times. Trans and non-binary staff are facing more bullying, more discrimination from patients, more unwanted sexual behaviour, more physical violence from colleagues and more physical violence from patients than our cisgender and heterosexual staff. If you allow it to happen once, you allow it to happen everywhere. This is utterly unacceptable behaviour and does not belong anywhere, let alone in the NHS.”.
The welcome address set the tone for me, and many others I met throughout the day, about being brave and having honest conversations.
A focus on tech
There is no doubt in my mind that “how can tech help health and how can health engage tech” was the overwhelming theme of Confed, whether that was on purpose/by design or whether that is the direction of travel and so the expo is showing a natural growth, is debatable. But it certainly makes me reflect on how is the VCFSE part of this digital health revolution? Is the NHS asking the VCFSE where it’s up to? How can the two entities be equal partners in shaping a future health system that involves tech appropriately but also be daring together?
Standout sessions
There were some fascinating main stage sessions – highlights for me included:
Wes Streeting’s speech
And then the one that kind of everyone wanted to hear was Secretary of State for Health, Rt Hon Wes Streeting, who gave his keynote on day two. The key take-aways for me from what the Secretary of State had to say were:
He is wholly supportive and wants to encourage tech involvement and innovation in health and social care.
He 100% wants to assure us all that the NHS is always going to be a people business.
He wants us all to be cautious and take a considered tentative approach to private investment.
And he recognises the NHS has been built on the hard work and effort of people born outside of the UK (stating its not a coincidence that NHS was built when Windrush docked) and it will always continue to be a diverse organisation; but that we can’t keep taking staff from other countries (especially those on the WHO red list) as its not ethical or in the best interests of mankind and we have to invest in and build our own, citing the example of getting a large number of extra GPs in as there was plenty that were unemployed.
The missing piece
Talking to some other VCFSE Leaders from around England and Wales, we all had a consensus that it was disappointing that he didn’t really talk about the VCFSE despite talking about hospital to community; and there was not enough recognition of the breath of resource in the VCFSE.
Men’s health left out
The NHS 10 Year Plan is due out soon and so those of us working with victims of RASSO have to ensure that not only do we work hard with officials to make the criminal justice system a better place for victims/survivors; but that we reach out to NHS/DHSC and work out how we keep the HEALTH of victims/survivors as a high priority.
Personally, I was disappointed that the Secretary of State didn’t even make a comment on the men’s health strategy but, I also appreciate that there is always something left out – I just wonder why it always has to be that which is connected to be betterment of male survivors.
However, all is not lost and the changes in the health system and a new plan pending, it is our responsibility to help deliver on the plans and ensure male survivors are not forgotten about.