Last month, NHS England¡¯s chief executive Amanda Pritchard for radical thinking to rescue the UK¡¯s ailing healthcare system ¨C including, perhaps controversially, the use of private capital to fund crumbling hospitals and new technology.?

Yet, in the wake of two parliamentary committees¡¯ about what one called her ¡°drive and dynamism¡± to cure England¡¯s ailing health service, it seems that the health secretary, Wes Streeting, was not won over ¨C and, last month, Pritchard announced her in April. ?

The current healthcare crisis certainly demands a radical fix. With the UK averaging just 3.2 doctors per 1,000 people ¨C below OECD benchmarks ¨C and with 7.5 million patients on waiting lists, our system is stretched to its limits. Lord Darzi¡¯s of England¡¯s NHS, published in September, exposed a host of issues. Chronic underinvestment in community care, unsustainable hospital dependence and workforce shortages are leading to reduced life expectancy and an increasingly unhealthy population with stark health inequalities.

With the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan under review just two years after its publication, the government evidently recognises that we cannot afford another cycle of piecemeal, short-term fixes. Its health reforming goals ¨C moving from hospital to community, from illness to prevention, and from analogue to digital ¨C will require structural reform. And universities could and should be at the heart of that change.?We must step up, not just as educators, but as active partners in rethinking healthcare delivery and building the NHS workforce of the future.

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One way universities could add value is through Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contracts, which allow organisations other than GPs ¨C such as private companies or third-sector providers ¨C to provide primary care services. This is an opportunity for universities to embed practice-based education into an expanded value chain of operation, aligned with their charitable purpose.

At the University of East London (UEL), we are developing a University Primary Care prototype, which will co-locate primary care, research and student-led, supervised clinical services to bring healthcare directly into communities. London is facing a 20 per cent shortage in primary care capacity, and our local community is experiencing some of the starkest health disparities. East London has some of the UK¡¯s highest levels of air pollution and childhood obesity; longest women¡¯s health waiting lists; and lowest levels of GP coverage.

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Those factors, plus our prototype¡¯s engagement with our hyper-diverse local community, will give our model a groundbreakingly broad evidence and evaluation base, potentially allowing it to be rolled out nationally. But to reach their potential, such innovations will need the backing of policymakers and the Integrated Care Boards that plan and fund most NHS services in their areas. Healthcare managers¡¯ mindsets must be recalibrated to recognise the university sector¡¯s capacity and expertise to deliver as primary healthcare partners, drawing on comparisons with the current university hospital model.??

It is easy enough to outline the vital role universities already play in the health ecosystem. Through technology-driven, interdisciplinary team training and development, universities are expanding primary care, nursing and allied health pipelines to meet growing NHS demands. At UEL, our Hospital and Primary Care Training Hub is increasing and improving clinical placements by embracing innovative technology ¨C including virtual and augmented reality, as well as interactive robotic mannequins ¨C and repurposing clinical placement tariffs that directly fund staff and resources.

From mental health interventions to vitamin distribution to early childhood development research, we are shifting the focus from illness treatment to prevention. Our Institute of Science for Early Years is informing early-intervention strategies that could help reduce the long-term burden on NHS services. These innovations are not theoretical. They are real, tested and working ¨C but to scale them nationally, bold policy action is needed.?

The case is clear: if the government is serious about tackling the NHS crisis, it must prioritise systemic change, starting with policies that integrate universities as core partners in workforce and service-delivery planning. And that partnership must be underpinned by a bold vision, breaking down bureaucratic silos and outdated funding models.

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Universities are not just training institutions ¨C we are engines of healthcare innovation and prevention-focused public health strategies. If politicians and officials have the courage to back a radical new model of collaboration, we can turn this crisis into a catalyst for a healthcare revolution.?

Amanda Broderick is vice-chancellor and president of the University of East London.