Welcome to our now annual pre-Christmas tradition of an end of year blog!

Let me start with the reality – it’s a tough landscape out there for both the NHS and NHS suppliers. Funding is tighter than ever, the government has been religiously pushing its reform agenda, and Trusts are being asked to focus on savings and efficiencies.

That said, ever the optimist, I believe there are reasons to be hopeful. The need for clever thinking, innovative solutions and sustainable partnerships remains greater than ever.

So, what did 2024 bring and what might happen in 2025?

Looking back

Expert help on waiting lists

Over the last year, we have ventured further into the mental health space, where we’ve seen increased demand for more transparency and clarity around waiting times.

With this in mind, we launched our first ever webinar series, focused on community mental health waiting times. We had some brilliant chairs and speakers on board for the three-part series and received plenty of positive feedback from those who attended. If you missed them at the time, you can still check out the recordings on our YouTube channel.

Waiting lists in physical care have also remained in the headlines throughout the year, and was the inspiration behind our recently released waiting list calculator, designed to help Trusts bring their waiting lists down sustainably throughout 2025, to help meet the government’s recently stated ambition of 92% of patients being seen within 18 weeks by 2029.

If you haven’t already, check out the calculator here to understand what your waiting list recovery challenge looks like.

And, shameless plug time, if you need help in bringing your waiting lists down sustainably, get in touch today!

The joy of collaboration

One of the best things about 2024, from a personal and company perspective, has been taking part in a number of programmes to help me develop my own skills and knowledge and that of Acumentice and its products as a whole.

This has included:

·      Being part of the DigitalHealth London Leap programme, which aims to contribute to the success of founders from underrepresented communities, for our e-learning platform Evolve Learning.

·      and; participating in Health Innovation West of England’s Commercialisation Academy, which has proved hugely helpful in driving forward our patient pathway management software.

Events and fundraising

We’ve attended some excellent events this year - not least our sponsoring of NHS Confederation’s annual Mental Health Network Conference and Exhibition in Leeds in April, a fantastic, highly valuable event for anyone with an interest in this space.

We have also participated in various events with the Mental Health Innovation Network; excellent in-person sessions spearheaded very ably by Aahuti Rai. Special shout-out to Michael Watson, our Principal Consultant, for all his work on this.

Elsewhere, we have continued to raise money for our charity partner, NHS Charities Together, with some of our team running the Hackney half marathon in May. Just as significantly, we achieved full B Corp certification in February, a fantastic achievement for a company of our size!    

A change of government

One of the biggest things to happen to healthcare this year was, of course, a general election, which saw Labour win by a landslide.

Just before the election result was announced, we released our white paper on waiting lists, which explored how learning lessons from the past could help to bring waits down sustainably in the future. We also looked specifically at the 40,000 pledge from Labour, concluding that such a weekly uplift, if delivered consistently and targeted at the right specialities, would be more than enough to meet the 18-week standard and bring waiting list numbers down.

Since Labour have come to power, they have certainly been busy, with the publication of the Darzi review, the launching of a national conversation about the NHS, industrial action being swiftly ended, question marks over the numbers in its first Budget and the potential for naming and shaming Trusts through football-style league tables

2025 looks set to be a similarly busy year, with a review of the New Hospitals Programme and the government’s 10 Year Plan both set to see the light of day.

Our work in 2024

We’ve been fortunate enough to work in a variety of Trusts over the last year, carrying out a range of improvement, data analytics and operational work.

As always, we are keen to make it a true partnership, bringing people on board with the work we do and working together in a way that leaves a sustainable legacy.

Here are a few quick highlights from the work we’ve carried out:

·     Quality improvement sessions in collaboration with Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

·     Implementing an elective recovery programme that led to a c16% overall reduction in the whole waiting list at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SASH).

·     Helped to improve ED 4-hour performance at the same Trust.

Looking ahead

Podcast time

Exciting news for 2025! We will be launching the first episodes of our podcast, Inside Health Innovation, supported by Innovation Health Network South London and DigitalHealth London, in January.  

Hosted by yours truly, the podcast will see guests discussing their innovation journey, how to get a foot in the door with the NHS and how they successfully balance work and family life.

We have two brilliant guests – Katie Bell of Kidney Beam and Sam Fay of SiSU Health – to kick off the series. Keep an eye on our socials for more info on when exactly these will be landing, and please remember to like, subscribe and share with your friends!

Awards nominations

For 2025, we are delighted to have been shortlisted in two separate categories for the prestigious HSJ Partnership Awards. This is for two specific projects we have completed in the last year, both of which took place at SASH. We look forward to presenting to the judges in January!

So, there we are. Quite a year, and here’s to 2025 being even better. We remain as committed as ever to continuing our support for the NHS to enable it to thrive now and in the future.

Before I sign off, I’d like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Whatever you get up to, have a great time, relax, and recharge the batteries for the year to come.

‍