UK private sector suppliers poised for opportunities as vanguard for NHS 10-year plan

The long-awaited NHS 10-Year Health Plan, which was published this summer as Labour marked its first year in power, is set to inform policy decisions across UK national healthcare for years to come with the private sector at the forefront of its delivery.

The 10-year plan's publication on 3 July follows the government's blunt declaration last year that "the NHS is broken" and represents its flagship policy to fix the UK's healthcare system.

The plan for the NHS holds out big opportunities for private sector suppliers and has significant implications for those who do or could do business with the NHS. As expected, new initiatives will be channelled through the lens of three radical strategic shifts in the flagship policy: moving healthcare from hospitals to community settings, transitioning from analogue to digital systems and switching from sickness treatment to prevention.

Details of the plan had emerged in the UK media earlier in the summer, but its publication now offers full details and confirmation of the substantial opportunities available for private sector suppliers as the NHS seeks to collaborate and invest in innovative solutions.

Digital transformation and AI

The plan outlines a vision for the complete digital transformation of healthcare delivery with a central role for artificial intelligence (AI). The goal is for the NHS to become the world's leading AI-enabled health system by 2035.

Digital health sits at the heart of this plan, with a focus on empowering patients, supporting staff and improving clinical outcomes through advanced technology and digital tools. One of the plan's most significant legislative changes will lead to the creation of a single patient record (SPR), which will  accessible via the NHS App. This development will be welcome news for NHS suppliers and should offer clarity on the areas of focus for their innovation efforts and provide more opportunities to sell digital tools into the NHS ecosystem.  

Procure at scale at a good price

The government would seem to have heard the plight of companies bemoaning the many hours spent bidding for lots of small local contracts. The plan aims to streamline procurement and make it easier and quicker for good solutions to be procured once a good price has been struck – and then scaled to NHS organisations nationwide.

The industry has expressed some concerns that the abolition of NHS England could result in a higher number of localised procurements run under the control of the Department of Health and Social Care. However, those fears appear, for now, to be unfounded. While the overall administrative burden of responding to fewer procurements is likely to reduce, the resource and pressure involved in bidding for very large national procurements companies cannot be underestimated. Companies looking to take advantage of these high-value opportunities will want to ensure their bid content is in top shape – with potential high rewards for those that that do.

Clinical trials

The government has acknowledged the issues identified by Lord O'Shaughnessy's 2023 review of commercial clinical trials, which found that the UK has fallen behind international competition. It found that the number of patients enrolled onto commercially led studies dropped by 44% over a four-year period between 2017 to 2018 and 2021 to 2022. The UK had also fallen from 4^th to 10^th best in the world for the number of trials initiated.

In April this year, the government, as part of its response to the review's findings, signed into law new clinical trials regulations that take full effect from April 2026 with the aim of streamlining clinical trial approvals. The plan also commits to ensuring that clinical trial setup times fall to 150 days from 250 days. The effectiveness of the plan in achieving this goal will be measured against the number of clinical trials that are carried out in the UK and whether steps to reduce bureaucracy and speed up approvals work in practice.

Patient control over data

The government also plans to legislate to ensure that patients by 2028 are able to view and control a secure account of their SPR data through the NHS App, which will enhance coordinated and personalised care. Feedback and ratings will be collected via the app, with AI translating insights into actionable improvements.

Patients have long had the right to access their health data under UK data protection laws, which grant patients broad rights of access and data portability. However, the planned changes will enhance these existing rights. This offers a chance for private sector suppliers to stand out from their competitors by showcasing their ability to assist the NHS in addressing patient requests effectively and by developing their solutions with these rights in mind.

Data commercialisation

The 10-year plan targets ways of untapping the unlocked value in NHS datasets. In the short term, the government through the Health Data Research Service, is looking to secure a range of agreements to ensure the NHS receives a fair deal for providing access to data for approved research. In the mid- to longer-term, the government is keen to more actively support companies and entrepreneurs applying their skills to solving health problems and explore ways to derive commercial value from access to anonymous health data.

This development is welcome news to any private sector supplier exploring collaborative opportunities with the NHS or looking to generate insights and product enhancements from its rich and unique datasets. However, suppliers will need to balance these opportunities against legal, regulatory and commercial considerations around exploiting that data, such as intellectual property, data privacy and AI.

Value-based and national procurement

New value-based procurement guidance for NHS buyers will be introduced. The plan highlights the pitfalls of procurements that treat all products as being the same and drive a "race to the bottom" on price. In early 2026, the NHS aims to introduce standard value-based procurement guidance for devices and digital products that focuses on best value and outcomes rather than lowest cost. The development will come as a welcome shift in procurement policy for suppliers that offer higher quality and better performing solutions at a higher cost but face challenges in getting the solutions through overly price-driven NHS procurements.

There are also proposals to streamline procurement through national procurements. The government wants to make it easier and quicker for good solutions to be procured once at a good price and then scaled to NHS organisations nationwide. The rewards for winning a high-value national procurement under this new approach could be significant. Suppliers need to make sure they spot upcoming opportunities by registering on Find a Tender and investing in their bid teams.

New commissioning models and playbooks

New regional heath zones will also have powers to experiment with new commissioning models, including "simplified procurements". The zones will bring together existing entities, including integrated care boards, providers and industry, to experiment, test and generate evidence on implementing innovation, which will include experimenting with simplified procurements. Although not explicitly stated in the plan, this drive for simplification could involve future legislative changes to the NHS Provider Selection Regime, leading to further changes to the commissioning of healthcare provisions.

A new social value playbook, which was released shortly after the plan, encourages NHS buyers to consider social value at each stage of the procurement or commissioning lifecycle. Aligned to the social value model (as updated in March this year), it emphasises the need to ensure questions on social value are proportionate and relevant by engaging in pre-market engagement. It also outlines that modern slavery should be included as a core requirement where there is a medium or high risk and that the inclusion of key performance indicators on social value is critical for assuring and measuring delivery. Given that social value criteria must carry a 10% weighting, suppliers that demonstrate sophisticated responses on social value will benefit from higher scores for social value – and this could determine the overall award decision in cases of close-run bids.

Osborne Clarke comment

The 10-year plan aims to transform UK healthcare through efficiency, innovation and digitalisation, relying heavily on private sector collaboration. The focus on digital transformation and AI, including a SPR via the NHS App, will create further demand for advanced digital tools. This is a big opportunity for companies specialising in digital health solutions, who will need to ensure compliance with evolving regulations. Changes to data handling, including patient control and data commercialisation, also offer unique opportunities.

Streamlined procurement processes for large-scale national contracts will reduce administrative burdens but will require companies to compete in high-stakes bids. Robust bid preparation will be crucial for success. Value-based procurement guidance and the NHS Social Value Playbook emphasise quality and social value in procurement decisions. Suppliers that can demonstrate superior product performance and commitment to social value will have a competitive edge.

Overall, the plan is set to reshape the healthcare landscape in the UK, and will require private sector suppliers to adapt and innovate to take full advantage of the opportunities it presents. By understanding the strategic shifts and aligning their offerings with the plan's goals, companies can play a pivotal role in the transformation of the NHS while achieving significant growth and success.

This is the first Insight in our series on the NHS 10-Year Plan and the next article focuses on the role of and opportunities for digital health suppliers.