Turning Policy into Practice: How ACHA Delivers on the NHS Long Term Plan

Posted on
16 July 2025

Read time
3 minutes

In July 2025, the NHS released its updated 10-Year Plan, a roadmap designed to future proof health and care by moving from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.

It calls for a healthcare system that is more personal, more proactive, and more connected. In north east London, the Academic Centre for Healthy Ageing (ACHA) is already helping deliver that vision. A partnership between Queen Mary University of London, Barts Health NHS Trust, and funded by Barts Charity, ACHA is pioneering a new model of research—one that’s grounded in communities, led by lived experience, and designed to generate real-world evidence to improve care for older people.

One of the Centre’s defining strengths is its deep commitment to Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement (PPIE). ACHA’s Community Advisory Group plays an active role in shaping priorities and co-designing research approaches. This ensures that research reflects real-world concerns, from language barriers to service access and empowers people who are at times left out of academic and health service design processes to help define and implement them.

“We were pleased to see the 10-year plan places an emphasis on metrics that reflect the patients’ experience and the outcome from the patients’ perspective, which aligns with ACHA’s approach. We were also delighted to see the emphasis on wearable technologies and their possible role in preventing a poor ageing trajectory as well as their role in optimising recovery after injury, which are central themes within ACHA. The aim to explore the role of robotic surgery for different procedures is also welcome, as robotic surgery has the potential to reduce the morbidity and speed the recovery after a range of different operations. ACHA’s innovative research strategy aligns well with the 10-year plan’s ambition to transform the NHS into a global research and innovation powerhouse. We look forward to contributing to this worthy aim for the NHS’s future. – Professors Adam Gordon MBE, Liz Sampson and Hamish Simpson, ACHA Academic Leads

ACHA’s work aligns with several key priorities in the NHS Long Term Plan:

  • Ageing well and independence: ACHA’s focus on frailty and post-illness recovery supports efforts to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and help people live well at home for longer.
  • Mental health for older people: Research into delirium, dementia and cognitive frailty contributes to more integrated, person-centred care.
  • Workforce transformation: Through protected academic time and its flagship FAIRER PhD programme, ACHA is supporting care workers, nurses, therapists and other professionals to step into research and leadership roles.
  • Health inequalities: Based in one of the UK’s most diverse and underserved areas, ACHA places inclusion and community voice at the centre of its research agenda.
  • Stronger community-based care: By working in partnership with local care homes, health and social care teams and advisory groups, the Centre will help shift more care out of hospitals and into communities.
  • Digital and Tech Transformation:  ACHA’s focus on developing digital tools and AI powered tech co-designed with the community will drive better prevention and personalised care.

With its first PhD programme and community-led research underway as well as international partnerships developing, ACHA is rapidly becoming a national model for what healthy ageing innovation can look like—practical, digital and inclusive.

ACHA offers an exciting opportunity for Whipps Cross. By integrating academic expertise into our clinical structures, we can efficiently address local needs and set a dynamic research agenda. Together, we'll utilise the Living Lab structure to create impactful solutions for patients, healthcare workers, and the ageing population in north east London. ACHA will be the springboard for local innovation, with international impact.

Dr Mark Rawle

Consultant geriatrician and older person’s services research lead, Whipps Cross Hospital

We’re looking forward to working with the local community to understand their health priorities for older people in north east London. ACHA aims to be a step change, placing the health and wellbeing of older people at the forefront. By uniting academics, healthcare professionals, and public health colleagues, ACHA will focus on the best ways to support older people. Additionally, ACHA will develop training and dissemination initiatives to ensure research evidence is shared and embedded into practice.

Professor Steph Taylor

Professor of public health and primary care at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London

Whipps Cross is delighted to support this innovative partnership, which will contribute to improved services across our local area and to wider NHS policy and practice across the country. By working with, and listening to, diverse local communities, clinicians, and caregivers our new centre will mix innovative research with practical tools to enable better care to help all of us age more healthily.

Dr Amanjit Jhund

Chief executive, Whipps Cross Hospital

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