The past 12 months have brought some of our biggest achievements so far, from record numbers of volunteers to researchers beginning their studies using our information.  

Here are eight of our standout moments from 2024.

1. Thanks a million

We celebrated becoming the world’s largest health research programme of its kind in October, with over 1 million volunteers taking part. The milestone arrived just two years after we launched to the public.

As of 20 December 2024, the number of volunteers for our programme has grown to 1,144,369. Those people have all completed their online questionnaire, attended an Our Future Health clinic appointment, and consented to share their health records.

Together, their information will help researchers to prevent, detect and treat diseases. 

2. Representation matters

We now have the largest ever number of volunteers from under-represented groups in a health research programme.

That includes ethnic minorities, lower income groups, and younger adults – right across the UK. 

The diversity of our volunteers means we can enable research that benefits everyone and reduces health inequalities. 

3. On the rise

Over the year, our brilliant volunteers have attended a whopping 722,074 appointments.

That’s up from 483,463 in 2023.

Over 350,000 of these were at clinics in Boots stores around the country, and a further 325,000 were at our mobile and high street clinics. 

We also saw over 40,000 people join via NHS Blood & Transplant. These volunteers joined Our Future Health while attending their blood donor appointments.

4. Locations, locations, locations

Throughout the year we offered appointments at clinics in 185 locations, including clinics in Scotland and Wales for the very first time.

We’re also laying the groundwork to open clinics in Northern Ireland. Watch this space.

5. Most popular clinic award goes to…

Newcastle! Our clinic in Eldon Square Shopping Centre was our most visited in the country, with 14,443 people attending appointments there over 147 days.

6. Booked and busy

We had our busiest clinic day on 2 May 2024, with 2,853 appointments completed.

7. Our research resource went live

We launched our Trusted Research Environment (TRE) – a secure computing environment that approved researchers can use to study de-identified data. 

The TRE contains millions of data points, including genetic information for 651,050 Our Future Health volunteers. 

8. First researchers got to work

12 studies using Our Future Health data became active this year, with more ready to go in 2025. This marks an exciting moment in Our Future Health’s journey, as it means health researchers are now actively using Our Future Health to help find new ways to prevent, detect, and treat diseases.

2024 certainly delivered for Our Future Health, and we’re grateful to everyone who has volunteered so far. Without the support of the public, large-scale health research like this – that truly reflects the diverse UK population – couldn’t happen. 

But we still need more to achieve our goal of five million volunteers. Can you help us to get there, to enable discoveries that will help everyone live longer and healthier lives?