UK MedTech industry reacts to Rachel Reeves’ 2025 budget

After the Autumn 2025 budget was announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, Med-Tech Insights reached out to contacts in the industry for comment on what it would mean for the healthcare space, as well as being inundated with comments from the wider life sciences sector.

Mark Leftwich, Managing Director at Philips UKI

“With public finances tight, every pound invested in health must work harder, delivering visible improvements for patients and real value for taxpayers. Patients are still waiting too long, staff are exhausted, and outdated equipment is slowing progress on tackling NHS waiting lists. 

“Modernising care is a shared responsibility, for government, the NHS and industry alike. Our Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust pilot at one of the Trust’s Community Diagnostic Centres shows the impact of extending MRI scanning into the evening with remote radiographer support – 1,356 additional patients were scanned and more radiographers were trained in less time. 

“The focus now must be on scaling what works. Smarter use of data, digital tools and AI-enabled imaging can support staff and give patients quicker access to the answers they need.” 

Guy Dickie, Head of Healthcare at Iron Mountain UK

“As the government considers its next steps for NHS investment, prioritising digital transformation will be vital to building a more efficient health service. With the government announcing £300 million of funding for NHS technology to support NHS staff, this is a step in the right direction. However, to deliver on this ambition, a unified approach to digitisation across all NHS trusts is essential. Paper records continue to slow down decision-making and restrict collaboration, while digital solutions have the potential to speed up diagnoses, reduce waiting times for patients, and minimise the risk of lost or damaged records.

“The increased investment announced today needs to be part of continued investment in digital infrastructure, strong governance, and the upskilling of NHS staff. This will ensure new technologies are adopted effectively and securely to help cut down waiting lists. The integration of AI and robust data management will be key to realising these benefits, delivering better outcomes for patients and enabling smarter, more connected care.”

Ranjan Singh, CEO and co-founder of HealthHero

“Investment in technologies that deliver patient services, such as virtual health is critical to realise a modern, fit-for-purpose health service that meets patients’ needs and lets clinicians do what they do best: treat patients and reduce their admin load. Today’s budget commitment of £300m rightly acknowledges the need for a digital strategy in UK healthcare, and will go a long way to ensuring a seamless crossover between face-to-face and virtual consultations.

“The benefits of using AI to triage patients into secondary care are clear, and we’re already seeing the positive impact on the NHS and patient outcomes when it comes to AI reducing patient waiting times and clinician admin load. Today’s announcement should be a first step to help ensure we can continue to integrate technology into patient care pathways, reducing waiting times and freeing up more clinicians’ time.”

Dr Anas Nader, A&E doctor and CEO of Patchwork Health

“We’re at a true tipping point when it comes to NHS tech; we’ve made huge strides in recent years, but the true value of innovation hasn’t yet been realised. The announcement in today’s Budget of an additional £300m of tech investment to improve patient services is most welcome and will help keep this vital momentum up. But it’s important to also bang the drum for investment in tech which supports all NHS staff. Not just clinicians, but also those working ‘behind the scenes’ – from rota coordinators to finance teams. These vital colleagues also need better tools and smarter systems. As we move towards a new year for the health service, we must ensure innovation doesn’t get siloed but instead improves the lives of everyone working in and benefitting from the NHS.”

Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund

“The generous settlement the NHS received at the Spending Review earlier in the year and its apparent protection today will help the health service just about keep its head above water as it battles a long list of financial challenges. Nonetheless, rising demand, fragile social care, industrial action, major workforce payouts and potential drug price increases mean health and care leaders still face a daunting task. 

“The scrapping of the two-child benefit cap and investment in Neighbourhood Health Centres are bold steps toward improving the public’s health and reducing pressure on the NHS long-term. However, the government still lacks a clear plan on how it will deliver its NHS reforms or stabilise social care and for how new private investment partnerships will avoid the costly mistakes of the past.”

Two-child benefit cap and public health

“The lifting of the two-child benefit cap could be significant in tackling deep health inequalities. It will take hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, a key driver of health conditions from obesity to asthma. Conditions like these can lead to lifelong struggles with health, affecting quality and ultimately length of life as well as long-term pressure on NHS budgets. Alongside a cross-government approach with measures like the ‘milkshake tax’, we welcome ministers using levers other than direct NHS funding to improve health outcomes. 

“Other policies such as an increase to gambling duty will build on this too, however the government could have gone further. There is space for tighter restrictions on junk foods ads and the move to raise taxes on electric vehicles could set back efforts to increase their uptake and improve air quality. Overall, it represents steps in the right direction but there is room for improvement in creating a more coherent public health policy.”

Finances

“This Budget lands against a bleak economic backdrop, yet health spending appears to have emerged relatively protected. There is still a long list of challenges alongside an intense political focus on driving down NHS performance targets – including waits for routine hospital care – which will mean the NHS is forced into trade-offs. It will have to divert its limited resources into achieving these targets at the detriment of other areas equally important to health outcomes and public satisfaction. 

“The full cost of the government’s restructure of the NHS is still unknown. Redundancy payments may be affordable this year because of a new agreement with HM Treasury to bring forward planned future spending, but the opportunity costs of restructuring the NHS while embarking on the most significant set of NHS reforms in a decade will be considerable. It also risks distracting senior management at a time when there should be a laser focus on improving performance. 

“The £300 million announced for investment in technology is welcome in showing the government’s focus on improving efficiency but in the context of the previously announced £10 billion over three years in investment in this area it is a relatively small sum.’

Neighbourhood Health Centres

“The government’s announced investment in Neighbourhood Health Centres is welcome. It shows ministers are looking at different ways to release new funding and prioritising delivery of care closer to home. Successive governments have not made progress on shifting care out of hospitals and ministers must demonstrate a clear break from this poor track record.

“The use of public private partnerships at a large scale in the NHS should be treated with caution given the repeated challenges previously. Ministers must prove they have learnt from the mistakes of schemes like PFIs by implementing appropriate checks and balances to design schemes more carefully to ensure value for money.

“Delivering neighbourhood health requires more than new or upgraded buildings. So that care is delivered in these new ways, rather than simply shifting old models out of hospital to community facilities, we need to expand diagnostic capacity, improve digital infrastructure and build a truly sustainable workforce. And a drive for improved coordination of healthcare, including with social care, which was notably absent from the Chancellor’s remarks, will be necessary to improve the experience for many patients.”

Kehan Zhou, CEO of Camascope

“It’s disappointing to see little attention on adult social care from the Chancellor. As the ADASS report this week set out, providers are increasingly forced to do more with less. Technology can help. Digitising medication records alone can safeguard patients and free up time for clinicians to deliver more personal care, while reducing costly errors. But we need to go further. Social care needn’t be the problem child of the health system. With the right focus and incentives, it can be a major source of opportunity and a driver of economic growth.”

Nick Lansman, CEO and founder of the Health Tech Alliance

“It was good to see a commitment to growing the life sciences sector in today’s Budget, especially redirecting funding to patient care closer to home and cutting NHS waiting lists. It is encouraging to see that the pension reforms are attracting initial investment of £200 million for the UK’s most innovative companies across science and technology firms.

“To turn this momentum into better outcomes for all, NHS procurement and data infrastructure need to keep pace with that growth capital, helping promising tools move from pilots into routine use. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s shift toward seeing health spending as an investment in workforce participation and economic growth is crucial. That same approach must now be applied to digital, data and medical technologies, recognising innovation not as a cost but as a driver of a more productive, sustainable NHS.

“The creation of a Neighbourhood Health Service and the new NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild programme could be powerful platforms for health tech if they prioritise interoperable data, modernised estates and clear, consistent routes for adoption of innovation. Public–private investment in more than 100 centres will only deliver value if these sites become testbeds for scaling effective technologies, not just new bricks and mortar.

“If the Government, investors and the health system work together, today’s announcements can help UK health tech firms to scale at home, compete globally and, most importantly, get game-changing technologies to patients faster. The Health Tech Alliance stands ready to work with ministers, the NHS and industry partners to turn this kickstart of momentum into real-world impact for patients, clinicians and the health system as a whole.”

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