HealthTech Hour

About HealthTech Hour

HealthTech Hour is a UK health technology podcast and radio show hosted by Steve Roest, featuring conversations with the founders, clinicians, executives, and policymakers shaping healthcare. 🎙 New episode bi-weekly. 🗣 Hosted by Steve Roest.

Publisher

Steve Roest

Category

business · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Dec 2021

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

162 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Why Young People Are Bypassing the NHS | Dr Charlotte Refsum

   NHS reform, the future of GPs, primary care, AI in healthcare, GLP-1s, prevention, the single patient record - Dr Charlotte Refsum, former GP and Director of Health Policy at the Tony Blair Institute, on why young people are bypassing the NHS, and what a primary care system built for the AI era looks like. What if the NHS is no longer the only option, and hasn't fully grasped it? Steve Roest sits down with Dr Charlotte Refsum, a former GP who now leads health policy at the Tony Blair Institute. She once practised medicine in a converted bedroom in southeast London with no blood tests and no X-rays on site, where the choice was her, that day, or A&E. Now she works on how the NHS adapts to AI, why NICE backed weight-loss jabs for 3.4 million people while 2.4 million went private online, and how to reach the people prevention keeps missing. In this episode: Why young people are bypassing the NHS for on-demand private care "Primary care is a platform, not a place": the GP's role in the age of AI What GLP-1s exposed about how the NHS values and delivers prevention Why care.data (http://care.data) failed, and how to make the single patient record matter to patients The "forgotten middle": why midlife is the sweet spot for prevention Why the Treasury doesn't believe "prevention saves money," and the argument that works Why the GP contract isn't built for prevention, and the practical fixes that could change it 0:00 From a bedroom GP surgery to predicting illness 1:15 Intro 4:30 From GP to health policy 6:35 Practising medicine in a converted bedroom 8:57 Primary care is a platform, not a place 11:50 A skin check in five seconds 15:47 What GLP-1s exposed about the NHS 19:40 Is the NHS still the only option? 25:49 Why the single patient record matters 30:13 Which country does health data best? 32:52 Why care data (http://care.data) failed 34:22 Does prevention really save money? 37:43 The forgotten middle 42:06 Reaching people who never respond 44:37 Prevention without the fear 49:27 Why the GP contract isn't built for prevention 51:12 Practical fixes for primary care 🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Why Community Pharmacy Is Propping Up the NHS | Jay Patel, Day Lewis

   Community pharmacy, pharmacist prescribing, Pharmacy First, NHS medicine shortages, prevention, blood pressure checks — Jay Patel, co-CEO of Day Lewis, on why the pharmacy on your high street is the most underused and underfunded part of UK healthcare. A blood pressure check he almost declined caught the heart disease that would have killed him. Steve Roest sits down with Jay Patel — qualified pharmacist, MBA, Community Pharmacy England board member and co-CEO of one of the UK's largest pharmacy chains — on why community pharmacy is quietly becoming the front line of prevention, and what it could do if the system actually backed it. In this episode: Why a routine pharmacy check saved Jay's life, and what it says about prevention Why every newly qualified pharmacist in the UK can now prescribe How pharmacies are paid less for medicines than they cost to buy Why Pharmacy First is the backbone of what's coming next How AI will make pharmacists better, not replace them Why online pharmacy hasn't killed the high-street model The four lessons from building a 250-pharmacy family business 0:00 The pharmacy check that saved his life 0:44 Intro 3:10 Welcome & why community pharmacy keeps growing in importance 5:50 Growing up in the back of a pharmacy 11:11 Why pharmacy is a bigger front line than your GP 14:12 The blood pressure check that saved Jay's life 19:13 Pharmacist prescribing and Pharmacy First 24:49 Why AI will make pharmacists better, not replace them 47:45 Why pharmacies lose money on your prescriptions 49:27 The four lessons that shaped him 🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   The Mental Health Crisis Starts in Primary School | Laura Earnshaw, myHappymind

   Children's mental health, prevention vs treatment, resilience, self-esteem, the CAMHS waiting list - Laura Earnshaw, Founder of myHappymind, on why we're solving children's mental health at the wrong end, and what teaching it early actually looks like. What if most children's mental health problems could be prevented years before they ever reach a waiting list? Steve Roest sits down with Laura Earnshaw, former Global Head of Talent at AstraZeneca, now Founder and CEO of myHappymind, the NHS-backed programme in over 2,000 schools. After her own son struggled at school and a family member was sectioned, Laura left her corporate career to build the skills she'd been teaching senior leaders for children as young as three. In this episode: Why children's mental health needs prevention, not just treatment What myHappymind teaches children as young as three The 120% vs 20% data proving early intervention works The commissioner who wouldn't fund prevention and why Why "character, not competence" builds real self-esteem Why founders should stop publicly blaming the NHS Laura's mottos for getting through the hard days 0:00 Why we get children's mental health backwards 0:51 Intro 2:20 From AstraZeneca to founding myHappymind 5:44 The two moments that changed everything 8:04 A million kids waiting: prevention vs treatment 10:34 What you can teach a three-year-old 11:38 Character, not competence: building real self-esteem 15:54 The data - 120% vs 20% on school absence 19:12 The commissioner who wouldn't fund prevention 40:44 Why founders should stop blaming the NHS 42:42 How the NHS came to her first 50:05 "Everything is figureoutable" 🎧 New episodes bi-weekly with the founders, clinicians, journalists and leaders shaping the future of healthcare.

Who has been a guest on HealthTech Hour

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Sam Fry
• Rachel Murphy
• Alex Lawrence
• Hassan Chaudhury
• Hayley Grafton

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

95,938

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 35 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

35

Social presence

0

YouTube

85

Engagement

0

Contact HealthTech Hour

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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Questions about HealthTech Hour