The NHS 10-year plan one year on: Is the government shifting the health service towards prevention?

The worthy aims of the NHS’s prevention shift include reducing childhood obesity, cutting the prevalence of smoking, and tackling harmful alcohol consumption. But previous Institute for Government work shows that shifting to prevention is incredibly difficult, with successive governments’ actions rarely meeting lofty rhetoric. So, one year on from the launch of the 10-year health plan, how much progress has the government made on its prevention goal? This event brought together a panel of experts to discuss the following questions: What has the government done to shift the NHS towards prevention since July 2025? How is the government assessing its own progress on this shift? What would demonstrate success in its eyes by the next election? Where has it made the most progress? Where has progress been slower? What does the NHS bill mean for the prospects of future progress? What are proving to be the particular stumbling blocks to implementation within the department, central government and local systems? What could the government do to push this agenda ahead faster? To explore these questions and more, this event brought together a panel featuring: Dr Zubir Ahmed MP, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety Dr Jennifer Dixon DBE, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation Ravi Gurumurthy, Group Chief Executive Officer at Nesta Ian Walker, Executive Director of Policy, Information and Communications at Cancer Research UK The event was chaired by Stuart Hoddinott, Associate Director at the Institute for Government. We would like to thank Nesta for kindly supporting this event.