Stephanie Hayman, Rachael Anstee and Rob Plumb in our Healthcare team attended the event, with Stephanie sharing her thoughts…
Summary
The 2025 Healthcare Summit brought together operators, leaders and advisors from across the health and social care sector. The event showcased how international approaches to regulation are influencing outcomes, highlighted the importance of operational due diligence in M&A, and explored the growing role of technology in both care delivery and financial management.
With the UK market attracting significant overseas investment and digital systems becoming central to operations, the sector is poised for continued evolution. Cultural alignment, strategic implementation, and quality data are emerging as critical success factors.
International Regulatory Models and Quality Outcomes
Across countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, and parts of the United States, regulators tend to adopt a lighter-touch approach, with accreditation often driven by those operating within the system. This model appears to support better outcomes in both care quality and service provision.
Japan, facing the challenges of a super-aging population, has seen a vibrant care sector emerge, where organisations are actively driving high standards. These international examples suggest that empowering providers and reducing regulatory burden can lead to more effective care delivery.
Turnaround Challenges and the Role of Oversight
Turnaround situations in care settings frequently reveal issues around governance and documentation. Many providers rely heavily on staff to manually update paperwork and evidence risk assessments, which can compromise the consistency and reliability of evidencing care processes.
There is a growing recognition of the value of third-party oversight, with some questioning the reliability of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in this role. A potential solution could involve lowering registration fees and introducing charges for inspections and revisits, thereby enabling more frequent and independent reviews of care quality.
Investment Strategy: Operational Due Diligence
When considering investments in care, it is increasingly important to engage professionals to assess the operational aspects of a business. Regular independent inspections can add significant value, particularly when operators maintain a sale-ready position and can clearly evidence strong governance and quality care.
Investors are placing greater emphasis on the presentation and performance of care homes, recognising that a well-run business is more attractive and sustainable in the long term.
Complex Care M&A Trends
The complex care M&A panel, featuring Garret Turley, Sam Gray, and Mark Gross, noted a resurgence in high-quality businesses returning to market in 2025. Apposite Capital’s investment in Denmark’s secular care sector was highlighted as a successful buy-and-build strategy in a previously fragmented market. The UK remains highly fragmented, but technology is enabling the creation of national portfolios and new approaches to quality management.
The regulator is supportive of digitalisation, which allows easier access to care data and better evidence of quality. However, successful implementation requires a strong organisational culture, phased rollouts, and leadership alignment. Larger corporate groups are leading the way in standardising digital journeys, with technology increasingly seen as a strategic enabler.
HealthInvestor M&A Panel Insights
The UK care market continues to attract substantial overseas investment, particularly from the United States, with a noticeable increase in transaction size and volume in the latter half of 2025. Multi-site operations in optical and dental care are seeing strong uptake, while technology investment remains polarised between startups and large players.
The impact of US tariffs, especially in healthcare and pharma, is driving more business online, including psychiatry and autism assessments. The UK market is viewed as relatively stable over the next four years, which is contributing to increased deal flow. However, due diligence processes are becoming more rigorous, leading to longer transaction timelines and more deal dropouts.
Lending is more available but can be slower to complete, and public funding offers longer-term contracts albeit with lengthened tendering processes. Private pay models offer more flexibility but require greater business development effort.
The government’s 10-year care plan is not expected to result in major changes, but there is potential for more infrastructure deals as the focus shifts to community care. The NHS’s online platform may disrupt private digital services, though the need for human interaction in certain care areas remains strong.
A lack of investment in digital and data systems can create challenges in later deal stages, with investors now placing greater emphasis on data quality and transparency.
European Investment Landscape
European investors are seeing successful exits from care platforms, and debt availability has returned, with US REITs showing renewed interest in the UK. While platform-to-platform deals are still occurring, political uncertainty is causing some hesitation in the market.
Quality of management teams remains a key theme, and there are rumours of larger healthcare transactions that could trigger a snowball effect in deal activity.
Budget speculation is influencing investor sentiment, with businesses focused on resilience and offsetting potential tax increases.
Aesthetic care is experiencing volume growth, with shifting perceptions around pricing and necessity.
France’s elderly care market remains challenging, while Germany is seeing cautious attitudes towards private equity in healthcare despite strong organic growth.
When asked where to invest £100 million, panellists favoured tech-enabled healthcare, noting that AI is becoming increasingly relevant across white-collar roles. There is also growing support for hospital infrastructure and services adjacent to primary care.
Elderly Care Market Update
Hannah Haines presented the results of the care market survey. The elderly care sector has seen a 24% increase in transaction volume, driven by improved funding options.
Demand for care homes is outstripping supply, with one in three operators looking to buy—rising to two in three in Wales, where no operators are currently looking to sell.
The financial burden of care continues to fall on private funders, with local authority fee increases lagging significantly behind those in the private sector. While 68% of local authority fee increases fall within the 0–5% range, only 19% of private fee increases are also within that band, highlighting the disparity in funding pressures.
The Digital Future of Finance in Care
Technology is increasingly seen as an enabler in care finance, helping to augment existing roles and shift focus from data entry to strategic problem-solving. The role of Head of Finance is evolving to include data leadership, with a strong emphasis on data cleansing and interpretation.
Upskilling care staff to engage with data is essential, and there is concern about falling behind in a fast-moving digital environment. Successful system implementation depends on people and culture, with clear strategic goals communicated from senior leadership.
Involving staff early in the process and investing in peer-to-peer training are key to driving transformation. Return on investment should not be measured solely in financial terms; improvements in care quality and employee satisfaction are equally important indicators of success.
It was a highly informative day with many opportunities to connect with experts in the sector. If you would like to discuss any of the topics, please get in touch.