On Monday 21 May, we held our first oral evidence session for the ILC-UK Health and Wellbeing Innovation Commission Inquiry, supported by Audley Retirement Villages and EY.

This Commission Inquiry is convening leading industry, academic, policy and political partners to investigate the potential for innovation in ageing across the UK. This first session will focused on Retirement communities and care homes.

There is an appetite amongst policy makers to find out ‘what works’ in terms of health innovation, and how good ideas can diffuse across health and social care. We believe this Commission Inquiry can achieve meaningful change and identify much-needed solutions in light of population ageing; we are also expecting a high level of press attention.

Structure of the Commission Inquiry

This major Commission Inquiry has build on our previous work and  operated on an Inquiry format, gathering oral evidence in Commission Inquiry sessions. While the potential for innovation to ‘disrupt’ ageing is widely acknowledged, so far we have failed to assess and systematically explore the role of innovation across the ageing pathway.

To address this, we will hold four sessions on the following themes:

1. Retirement communities and care homes – Monday 21 May
2. The built environment including transport, planning and design – Wednesday 30 May
3. Physical and mental health – Monday 9 July
4. Social connections including isolation and loneliness – Thursday 12 July

Background to the Commission Inquiry

Our first report, Creating a Sustainable 21st Century Healthcare System, argued that the NHS should be supported to continue to invest in innovation in order to save more money in the long-term. It identified a number of promising global innovations and addressed the reasons why some innovations succeed and some fail to live up to expectations.

Our second report, Towards Affordable Healthcare: Why effective innovation is key, calculated theoretical cost savings if selected innovations were scaled-up and applied across England. It also pressed home the need for effective innovation, showing that if action is not taken now, health spending as a percentage of GDP will increase to unsustainable levels in the future.

Expert witness Helene Feger, Director of Strategy, Communications and Engagement, Professional Record Standards Body shared the following video via social media on the day of the session.