EMILE HOLBA

Here you will find behind the scenes snippets, vigenttes and occasional deep dive into my projects and commissions.


BBC Radio 4 Moral Maze at the Nuffield Trust Summit 2025
The Nuffield Trust, a prominent independent health think tank, aims to enhance the quality of healthcare in the United Kingdom by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis, fostering informed discussions and debates. For the past nine years, I’ve had the privilege of documenting the Nuffield Trust’s annual flagship event, the Summit.

Their latest Summit, held in early March 2025, introduced an welcome twist by inviting BBC Radio 4 to record a special live audience episode of their renowned series, Moral Maze, presented by Michael Buerk.

The Summit serves as a platform for policymakers and contributors to engage in debates on the health and care priorities for the UK government. It also provides an opportunity to examine some of the significant long-standing challenges and policy decisions that have contributed to the multifaceted difficulties facing the healthcare system in the present day.

Therefore, the Moral Maze’s episode titled “What is the ethical purpose of the NHS?” seemed an appropriate conclusion to two days of Summit sessions.

Michael Buerk, Prof Mona Siddiqui, Matthew Taylor, Tim Stanley & Inaya Folarin Iman
Prof Kiran Patel
Prof Mona Siddiqui, Matthew Taylor, Tim Stanley, Inaya Folarin Iman & Prof Kiran Patel
Dr Jamie Whyte
Venue: Hanover Lounge. De Vere Beaumont Estate, Old Windsor
Anthony milligan
Tim Stanley & Inaya Folarin Iman
Matthew Taylor, Tim Stanley
Prof Sheena Asthana
Michael Buerk
Inaya Folarin Iman
Michael Buerk, Prof Mona Siddiqui

Chair:
  • Michael Buerk, Host, BBC R4’s Moral Maze.
Panel:
  • Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation.
  • Inaya Folarin Iman, Journalist and Director, The Equiano Project.
  • Prof Mona Siddiqui, Broadcaster and Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies, University of Edinburgh.
  • Tim Stanley, Sketchwriter and Columnist, Daily Telegraph.
Witnesses:
  • Prof Sheena Asthana, Director, Centre for Health Technology and Co-Director of the Centre for Coastal Communities, University of Plymouth.
  • Prof Kiran Patel, Chief Medical Officer, Deputy Chief Executive and Consultant Cardiologist, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
  • Dr Anthony Milligan, Research Fellow in the Philosophy of Ethics, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London.
  • Dr Jamie Whyte, Chief Executive, Whyte & Partners.


Nuffield Trust Summit 2025 Highlights
The central theme of this year’s Summit revolved around having challenging conversations. It emphasised the significance of open dialogue across a wide spectrum of topics, including anti-racism, end-of-life care, the GP partnership model, NHS Continuing Health Care, and productivity.

By bringing together a diverse group of NHS, social care, and policy leaders, disruptors, and innovators, the Summit facilitated meaningful discussions on how health and care systems should address current and future challenges. Over two days, speakers, panel discussions, and breakout sessions encouraged in-depth exploration of complex themes, systems, and policy responses that directly impact the lives of most people in the UK.

After all, alongside primary necessities like food and shelter, providing high-quality, accessible healthcare should be a hallmark of any developed economy. 


Many of the sessions were live-streamed and made accessible for viewing on the Nuffield Trust’s Summit page. Three sessions particularly caught my attention:

1) Making progress tackling racism in health and care. Speaker: Prof Stephani Hatch Professor of Sociology and Epidemiology and Vice Dean for Culture, Diversity and Inclusion, KCL.

2) Why is it so difficult to get end of life care right?
Chair: Dr Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive, Queen's Nursing Institute.

3) The GP partnership model: is it still fit for purpose?
Chair: Nigel Edwards, Expert Advisor, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

Thank you to the team at Nuffield Trust for organising such an interesting and thoughtful Summit. I appreciate your continued trust in my photographic eye, even though I’m still quite certain that I was a policy wonk in a previous life :-)

Listen to What is the ethical purpose of the NHS?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0029yy4
https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk
https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/summit/nuffield-trust-summit-2025/video-highlight1



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