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Panel Session Startup Delegate
Location: ClimbHealth - Thu, 2 Jul 2026 · 12:00 - 12:45 (Europe/London) (45 minutes)

If the NHS thought like a Startup; Where would it begin?

If the NHS were built today with a startup mindset, where would it begin—and what would it prioritise?

This panel brings together founders and healthcare leaders to discuss conventional thinking around one of the world’s most complex health systems. We’ll explore what happens when principles like speed, experimentation, and user-centric design are applied to public healthcare—and where those ideas collide with reality.

For investors and life sciences professionals, the conversation will focus on where meaningful opportunity exists: what’s genuinely investable, what can scale within NHS constraints, and how innovation can move beyond pilots into system-wide impact. We’ll also confront the harder questions—funding models, procurement friction, and the cultural barriers that slow progress.

Expect candid perspectives, practical insight, and a sharper lens on how entrepreneurial thinking could reshape the NHS—and where it may fall short.

Hosted by
Wayne Elliott
Wayne Elliott
Associate Director of Commercial Enterprise at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

As Associate Director of Commercial Enterprise at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Wayne Elliott leads a commercial portfolio across health & life sciences covering research, diagnostics, data and innovation. With over 25 years of commercial experience across the private and public sectors he also leads on strategic partnerships to drive revenue and reinvest into patient care.…

Speakers
Jen Taylor
Jen Taylor
Communications and Marketing Manager at NIHR Innovation Observatory

Jen Taylor is Communications and Marketing Manager at the NIHR Innovation Observatory, based at Newcastle University. She leads the organisation’s marketing and communications strategy, delivering multi-channel campaigns spanning events, PR, digital communications and stakeholder engagement to raise the profile of its global work. Working at the UK’s national horizon scanning centre, Jen plays a key role in translating complex,…

Nigel Sansom
Nigel Sansom
Executive Chair at PinPoint Data Science

Dr Nigel Sansom is Executive Chair of PinPoint Data Science, a Leeds-based company developing UKCA-marked, AI-driven blood tests for early cancer detection. PinPoint's tests have been prospectively validated across more than 13,000 NHS patients in a five-year real-world evaluation spanning five NHS Trusts and 170 GP surgeries and are available for deployment across NHS urgent suspected cancer referral pathways today.…

Richard Hall
Richard Hall
CEO

, a product design, innovation and sustainability consultancy largely focused on health tech. The business mission is to enable organisations to adopt and thrive using design and innovation as the catalyst for commercial success. In addition to running the business Richard is an assessor for UKRI, NiHR, a Design Council expert, Chair of the Y&NY Health & Life Science Cluster and a Business Board member of West Yorkshire Combined…

Tom Willshare
Tom Willshare
Co-Founder and CTO at Revela Health

Tom Willshare is co-founder and CTO of Revela Health, a North-east women’s health startup developing AI software to support earlier, non-invasive diagnosis of endometriosis from pelvic ultrasound scans.