The top spot was an even split between funding and resources and mandating supplier compliance, with each option attracting 34 percent of the vote. Votes for funding and resources came from job titles including engagement operations manager, global product marketing leader, digital support specialist and senior programme manager; whilst voters who opted for mandating supplier compliance included a deputy chief nurse, transformation leader, project manager and GP.

Coming in second was workforce education with 26 percent of votes. Votes for this option came in from roles including business intelligence developer, nurse teacher, project manager, and founder.

In last place was board level buy-in, which six percent of voters selected as a priority for health and care cyber security, including an executive director for system delivery and a change leader.

Which option would have voted for? Follow HTN on LinkedIn here for the chance to share your views in future polls, and to keep up with news, insights and interviews in the health tech space.

Spotlight on cyber security across the NHS

Let’s take a look at some of the recent stories around cyber security in the NHS to have caught our eye over the last few months.

Back in July, the King’s Speech 2024 highlighted plans for a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, set to expand regulatory remits to provide protection to a higher number of digital services; and a Digital Information and Smart Data Bill, aiming to ensure the power of data is utilised to support growth, the government, and people’s lives.

August saw news of a new partnership between NHS England and the North East Business Resilience Centre on a pilot project designed to tackle cyber threats by delivering ‘digital health checks’ for small and medium businesses in the social care sector in the North East and Yorkshire, including free cyber services and training.

In September, NHS England and the National Data Guardian released a joint statement describing changes to the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to be phased out and replaced by the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF); it also saw the publication of the Scottish Government’s strategic plan for 2024-2027 for the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre, outlining the vision for a “digitally resilient nation” and setting out an overview of operating principles, functional structure and service development plans.

A HTN Now panel discussion last week also discussed the most significant cyber security threats currently facing health and social care organisations, how organisations can prioritise their resources to address emerging threats, the outlook for the next 5-10 years, and more. Experts also highlighted ways of getting buy-in at C-suite level, ensuring training is in place to secure the human element of frontline cyber security, and ensuring supplier compliance.

Following the publication of the report from Lord Darzi exploring the state of the NHS, HTN sought comments and reactions from a range of stakeholders from across the health and technology sector. We asked for thoughts on the report’s findings and the “missed opportunities” Lord Darzi highlights from analysis of the past ten years, and look ahead to the ways technology can help secure the future of the NHS.

Here, we share key comments and views from across the industry.

Identifying the challenges and “missed opportunities” from the past decade in the NHS

Louise Wall, managing director, e18 Innovation, said: “One of the most significant missed opportunities of the past decade, in my view, has been the slow adoption of automation technologies in healthcare. As Lord Darzi points out, the NHS is still in the “foothills of digital transformation”. This lag has contributed to many of the inefficiencies and capacity issues highlighted in the report.”

From Apira, director and founder Geoff Broome commented: “Lord Darzi’s report rightly identifies the ‘big shifts’ we’ve been talking about for years—community-based care, digital innovation, and prevention. However, the challenge we face now is that the starting position is much worse compared to when similar suggestions were made in 2002.”

“Over the last decade we’ve really missed out on inclusive communication for patients,” said Rachael Grimaldi, co-founder and CEO, CardMedic. “This inability to communicate is a major cause of healthcare inequality, delays in care, poor patient engagement and health outcomes. To make real changes, we need to break down the existing barriers in the NHS and facilitate widespread adoption of technology.”

Joseph Waller, co-founder at Aire Logic, shared his view: “What the government fail to understand is that the moment they create a commercial scope for a major programme they inadvertently create silos of disconnected data. Until they are able to recognise the commonality of technical services in the sense of a (SOA) service or micro-service, they will continue to effectively create the same system a thousand times over in the NHS.”

From iPLATO Healthcare, founder and CEO Tobias Alpsten considered: “AI could be revolutionising diagnostics and patient care, yet its implementation remains patchy. Similarly, the NHS still struggles to fully embrace cloud infrastructure… The focus must shift from small pilots and fragmented innovation projects to widespread digital adoption.”

Rachael Fox, executive vice president, EMEA at Altera Digital Health said: “While the NHS has never had so much funding, it hasn’t been enough to keep pace with a population with changing care needs, or the digital transformation witnessed in other sectors.”

Speaking from Dosium, CEO and co-founder Nicholas Appelbaum commented: “For innovation to spread and drive change, mandated open standards for interoperability are an absolute must. Right now, it isn’t the case that this infrastructure is in place, and frankly this is limiting the potential of technology to drive change. By definition, it is siloing efforts.”

“Despite policy intentions, investment has predominantly favoured hospitals, leaving community services under-funded and overwhelmed,” said Chris Hornung, MD for public sector, Totalmobile. “Embracing digital tools allows community-based trusts to gain the reliable data needed…isn’t just an opportunity; it’s a necessity to enhance service performance and patient care.”

The role of technology in helping to secure the future of the NHS…

Liz Ashall-Payne, CEO of ORCHA, stated: “While the report rightly emphasises the role of data and infrastructure, we must focus on giving patients access to practical digital health tools like mental health apps and chronic disease management platforms now.”

From Corti, CEO and co-founder Andreas Cleve commented: “To turn the tide, we need a bold, strategic vision focused on sustained investment in both infrastructure and groundbreaking technology. AI has the power to rebuild healthcare from its foundations, starting from the very first moment a patient seeks help…but for AI to fulfil its promise, it must be embraced as part of a well-thought-out, long-term strategy.”

“As a community we need to work on rebuilding trust by partnering with healthcare professionals to create solutions that genuinely work, being honest about limitations, and building a strong culture of data engagement,” shared Scott Fletcher, CEO of Real World Health. “By doing this, we can change mindsets, lay the groundwork for adopting more advanced tools, and move towards that key goal of a more proactive, preventative healthcare model.”

Mark Reynolds, Founder and CEO at Hable, said:  “Investment in technology is fantastic. But to get anything out of it and ensure we are really changing how NHS staff work, we must also close the digital skills gap.”

From Redmoor Health, founder Marc Schmid noted: “We need to take the politics out of the NHS which is plagued by short term decision making and welcome commitments from the government to build a consensus from all quarters around how we meet these challenges and focus on a much longer-term strategy beyond the general election cycle.”

Speaking from Accurx, CEO Jacob Haddad highlighted: “As Lord Darzi’s report says, the vital signs are there, and so we must now focus on scaling the solutions that have been proven in innovative parts of the system.”

Amber Nigam, Basys.ai, shared a view: “Looking ahead, the focus must be on long-term investment in modern technologies that can streamline processes, reduce clinician burnout, and ultimately improve patient outcomes. This isn’t just about the immediate benefits; it’s about flattening the cost curve and preparing the NHS for future challenges.”

“Innovative projects focused on tackling inequalities, reducing waiting lists and moving care from hospitals to homes have demonstrated the huge potential innovation has to support the productivity of the NHS and the health of the nation,” stated Richard Stubbs, chair of the Health Innovation Network. “We must focus on supporting implementation and adoption of innovation.”

Julian Coe, X-on Health, said: “Realising this digital ambition does not necessarily mean spending on brand new systems…but instead…optimising existing tools that are integral to the delivery process and making the best use of the digital systems already in place.”

 Director of public sector & unified platforms at Exponential-e, Afshin Attari, commented: “The success of using digital data platforms complimented with AI in diagnostics and transforming the NHS patient outcomes relies heavily on the availability of skilled personnel, robust infrastructure and a substantial investment in cybersecurity to protect sensitive patient data from breaches and cyberattacks.”

“The future of healthcare, as outlined by Lord Darzi, lies in the intersection of technology and patient care…requiring a blend of human compassion and cutting-edge technology,” reflected John Kosobucki, OX.DH. “There needs to be a desire to make that turn, and an understanding that making no change has consequences. All large corporations have to manage staff, help them communicate, schedule work and handle sensitive data. Of course, the NHS is different. But not that different.”

Manjul Rathee, co-founder & CEO, BfB Labs, considered: “To unlock productivity and improve care, a major “tilt towards technology” is needed, including empowering staff, tapping into the richness of NHS data, and embracing AI. The report serves as a wake-up call and a roadmap for the NHS to pivot towards a digital future focused on prediction and prevention.”

VP corporate marketing at Kiteworks, Patrick Spencer, said that the potential of AI to transform services “is enormous”, but specified that “the safeguarding of sensitive information remains paramount”.

Speaking from Lenus Health, director Jim McNair commented that the report is “not the first to point to the largely untapped potential for digital pathway tools and AI to transform care. The time to act on digital and data driven transformation is now.”

Professor Hatim Abdulhussein, CEO at Health Innovation KSS, noted that in his view, with “the right investment and partnerships, AI and digital innovations can significantly increase capacity and efficiency. This will enable the NHS to overcome its current challenges and emerge stronger, more efficient, and better equipped to serve the nation’s health needs in the long term.”

From Rackspace Technology, healthcare executive in residence Jason Jones commented: “We must focus on clinician-led transformation initiatives…Additionally, aligning individual trusts under integrated care boards will ensure better investment decisions in digital technology and infrastructure, ultimately serving the population more effectively.”

“One game-changing technological improvement would be ensuring a single patient view with role-based access,” pointed out David Hammond, deputy chief strategy officer, Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust. “This level of information sharing is necessary though not sufficient. We also need to ensure our capacity, both of people and technology, is focused in the right places.”

Dr Ruby Bhatti, OBE DL, stressed the need to “stop the tick box exercises of completing interviews with stakeholders… We can only realise the ambition if we all work together and address the challenges without being defensive, leaving the blame game behind and truly looking at the fractured system through the patients and staff’s voices and eyes to move forward.”

Kevin Douglas, co-CEO, Alertive, raised the need to ensure that “enablers like improved connectivity aren’t overlooked to get more value from investments made to date, such as EPR, and the technology on the immediate horizon, such as FDP and the broader use of AI”.

Steve Sawyer, managing director, Access HSC, commented: “All too often pockets of success sit in silos and are duplicated across the country.  By creating more momentum to deliver digital ecosystems that span the care continuum – with the help of industry partners that can meet these cross-cutting needs – the NHS can achieve greater value and outputs from technology and data.”

From Answer Digital, CEO Richard Pugmire reflected:  “If the government is to deliver on its promise to move the NHS from ‘analogue to digital’, this will require funds to be directed in such a way that will help scale the technologies that have the biggest impact on enhancing productivity.”

“Using technology to address the issues around access to community-based and general practice is vital to the wider achievement of the aspirational shift from diagnosis and treatment to prediction and prevention,” said Antoine Lever, commercial director, babblevoice.

Fast and efficient diagnostics are “key to addressing the backlog,” said Maddy Phipps-Taylor, managing director (EMEA), Magentus, “and the workflow around pathology and radiology services will remain critical in enabling the vital shift towards early detection and prevention.”

Dr Mark Ratnarajah, NHS paediatrician and UK managing director for C2-Ai, concluded: “With the NHS empowered with new permission to learn and improve, scaling such technology could equip teams with the insight to prevent avoidable emergency admissions, safely reduce waiting lists with existing resources, prevent scandals through early intervention, and make the most impact with resources across healthcare systems.”

… and the role of data

Commentators also highlighted the potential for data to play a role in the future of the NHS, with comments focusing on the importance of data for the development of technologies such as AI, and in learning more about the current status of our health system.

Roberto Anello, regional president for Northern Europe, AGFA HealthCare, stated: “Despite efforts made so far, we’ve really only scratched the surface, in terms of the efficacy of digital solutions that are truly representative of a connected acute and community health system. Using the vast amounts of data that is largely untapped, the NHS could spearhead instrumental changes in patient outcomes.”

AI and data are two examples highlighted in the report of where tech has the power to transform services,” said Tara Athanasiou, director of advisory practice, Ideal Health. “But to achieve their potential we need to move beyond pockets of brilliance… Rather than wrestling with things like information governance at organisation and ICS level, why not do it once, do it well and make it available at scale?”

From Stress Point Health, Sheena Pirbhai shared: “The report echoes much of the discourse we’ve already seen, but what the NHS desperately needs now is not more diagnosis, but bold, transformative steps that move beyond reiteration…The NHS should be focusing on the rapid implementation of technology instead of going over the same challenges we know exist.”

Cara Afzal, programme director for data & digital, Health Innovation Manchester, shared: “Key digital tools such as the shared care record, digital patient apps, and secure data environments are foundational in addressing the growing demands on our region’s healthcare system.”

“There’s huge opportunity to further transform healthcare with the use of data for early detection and predictive analytics but investments, standardisation and regulations all need to be considered,” stated Henry Gallagher, managing director, G2 Speech.

Jonathan Elliott, managing director at Epro, said that “many great British companies, including many SMEs, have developed some fantastic solutions that deliver real value and tangible business case benefits yet operate below the radar of many in the NHS. Unlocking and promoting some of these world class solutions must be a central plank within the strategy.”

Data is key, said Darren Goode, CTO, Egress Group: “If we are to pivot to preventative care as Lord Darzi sets out in the report, NHS trusts need real-time access to this data in the right context. Only then will embracing innovations like AI also deliver its true potential… it’s time we started thinking differently about data.”

Phil Bottle, managing director at SARD, pointed out that until greater focus is placed on strengthening the understanding of clinical capacity and demand, “NHS trusts will not be empowered to make informed decisions about their workforce and digital expenditure…it will be impossible to hit whatever productivity targets the Government set…and patient outcomes will suffer as a result.”

“As the NHS continues its recovery, I believe that data quality will be crucial to long-term success. Accurate and well-managed data is essential for transforming the way waiting lists are handled and ultimately improving patient outcomes,” highlighted Basil Badi, director for data management, Ideal Health.

From Radar Healthcare, CEO Paul Johnson commented on the “real need for joined-up, automated, integrated data to be the driving force for this continuous improvement”.

Insights on challenges for innovators

Paul Landau, CEO of Careology, said: “The brilliant but overstretched workforce doesn’t have the tools right now to move care from being reactive to preventive….Our combined goal must be to provide clinicians with information at their fingertips not only to help patients on an individual basis, but to improve services and outcomes at a larger scale.”

CEO at Naq, Nadia Kadhim, added: “If digital health is not governed in new ways, NHS transformation teams and innovators will continue to be held back by ever increasing requirements, confusion and regulation costs.”

Further questions from the industry

The report not only inspired comments and reflections on challenges facing the NHS as it moves into the future, but it also elicited further questions and scope for future focus.

Martin Bell, director, The Martin Bell Partnership, asked: “So, we’ve had the review, it had told us what we already knew – what is now the actual, practical, on the ground plan, properly resourced and funded, to make it happen?”

“It is clear that this country has the ability to deliver a universal healthcare system that could be a shining example to the rest of the world, as it once was, but there is a long and difficult road ahead to get there,” said Dr Suvir Venkataraman, general manager, Harley Street Fertility Clinic. “This review provides the opportunity to go further and question not only ‘how to get back the good old days of the NHS’, but consider what might the best in 21st century integrated universal healthcare look like?”

Chris Robson, Living With, considered: “In many ways, the technology analysis was very high-level and will need much more work done…if we are going to move to what Lord Darzi is advocating as “predict and prevent’ then it is going to need a lot more thinking, given that so many of the basics are not working well.”

Chad Holmes, Cynerio, questioned the “complete lack of attention focused on cyber security” within the report and emphasised: “While adoption and adherence of these resources still has a long way to go, the heroic efforts of IT and security teams should be noted, particularly as the results of austerity measures and capital shortfalls have negatively impacted all members of the NHS.”

Nick Wilson, CEO of System C, said that he would “like to see the government prioritise the integration of care with existing technology systems to minimise delays and substantial disruption…. post-implementation people must be held accountable for delivery. It is the only way that the real benefits will be delivered.”

Dr Rishi Das-Gupta, CEO of the Health Innovation Network South London, shared a hope that the report “will result in more of a focus on the digital innovations which can improve staff experience and care in the short term such as ambient voice technology and automation… and will help speed up the adoption and spread of proven innovations that can improve the lives of patients and staff in the NHS.”

And last but not least, Chris Barker, CEO, Spirit Health, concluded: “The key now is how we action this and make a difference for patients, staff and the system. Increasing what is understood about the difficulty of deploying improved ways of working in the NHS at scale…Listening to patients and doctors in the context of this report and work out how together to drive change.”

We’d like to thank everyone who shared their insight with us on this topic.

To read HTN’s breakdown of the major findings on digital and data from Lord Darzi’s report, please click here.

To narrow down the manifesto’s focuses, we highlighted four answers to choose from: long-term management condition, investment into technologies such as AI, data and life sciences, and reforming primary care.

The most popular answer by a long margin saw 60 percent of respondents vote that primary care reform should be Labour’s priority, with voters including practice manager, associate director for governance and quality and principal clinical safety officer.

In second place, 22 percent voted that long-term condition management should take priority. Here, we saw votes from roles such as clinical director, deputy chief nurse and innovation consultant.

In third place, investing into technologies such as AI took 17 percent of the vote, with voters including head of digital solutions and device specialist.

Finally, focusing on data and life sciences received just one vote, from a healthcare accounts director role.

The poll also generated comments around the need for investment into digital workforce development before anything else, and the need for further development into AI maturity before it can be well-utilised in the healthcare space.

Which option would you have chosen? Follow HTN on LinkedIn here for the opportunity to share your views in future polls.

Exploring the results: primary care

With primary care the clear priority for our poll respondents, let’s take a look at some of the news in the digital primary care space over recent weeks.

Last week, HTN explored findings from the 2024 GP Patient Survey on patient experience, accessibility, online services and more; read our coverage here.

At the start of the month, we noted a letter from Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS England national director for primary care and community services, to GPs and practice managers, aiming to clarify information around enhancements to the GP Connect Update Record. Earlier in the year we covered another letter proposing plans to test new ways of working to ‘optimise the general practice operating model’ across urgent and proactive care services and further deliver on the Fuller Stocktake vision.

We explored some stats released by NHS England on the number of GP appointments delivered by video or using online means, highlighting an increasing trend from last year.

Additionally, HTN interviewed Helen Atherton, professor in primary care research at the University of Southampton, to learn about the projects she has been involved in within digital primary care, where she believes digital options can offer the most value in this area, future directions and more.

And on a final note, we are hosting a virtual panel discussion on innovation in primary care on 7 August (10am) – find out more and register for your free NHS ticket here.

Four possible answers were supplied – to enforce cyber standards, audit IT suppliers, focus on staff education, or provide central funding and support.

The poll resulted in a tie; the need for staff education and central funding and support were both highlighted by participants, with 36 percent of the vote each.

On the need to focus on staff education, votes came in from roles such as deputy chief nurse, partnerships manager and clinical director for IT. Voting for more central funding and support, meanwhile, were roles such as NHS trust executive director, associate director of digital transformation and financial accountant.

Third and fourth place were also relatively close, with 15 percent of the vote going to ‘audit IT suppliers’ and 13 percent to ‘enforce cyber standards’. For auditing suppliers we saw voters such as deputy director of operations and digital technical manager, whilst votes for enforcing standards came from roles including chief information officer and physician.

Which would you have voted for? Don’t forget to follow HTN on LinkedIn here for the chance to share your views in future polls, along with keeping up with news, insights and interviews in the health tech space.

Cyber security in focus

HTN shared guidance from NHS England on network segmentation here, designed for healthcare staff members responsible for the architecture, design, implementation and maintenance of organisation’s network security, and sharing oversight of how network segmentation can prevent or mitigate lateral movement across a network in the event of a cyber attack.

Last week we highlighted how Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria has opened an early engagement opportunity for a gamified scenario based cyber security exercise, designed to enhance preparedness for cyber events amongst senior leaders in health and social care.

At the end of June, NHS England published an opportunity worth an estimated £4.2 million for services to support a cyber security focused programme and assurance model, as part of efforts to appoint a call-off contract with one provider.

We also recently explored a recent national data guardian panel, in which updates to the data security and protection toolkit (DSPT) and cyber assessment framework were discussed; click here to read more.

On cyber attacks in healthcare and their impacts, we reported on an update from NHS Dumfries & Galloway here and on June’s attack against a number of NHS organisations in London here, along with the latest update on the London attack published today.

HTN spoke with Jas Purewal, cyber consultant at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, to hear about how the trust partnered with partnered with cyber security specialist Cynerio to introduce its healthcare cyber security platform, to provide visibility, meet DSPT targets and other requirements, and support network segmentation.

Interested in reading more about cyber security in health tech? Check our our interview with Peter Kelly, Cynerio’s global head of customer success, thoughts on network segmentation, how Cynerio can support organisations in this space, and his view on what success in this space looks like.

What does the health tech landscape look like at present?

Here at HTN, we sought to gain an understanding of the landscape as it stands now, in July 2024, ahead of the upcoming election and any changes that may bring.

We put out a call to comment asking for thoughts and perspectives on a number of key questions: what’s on your mind in the health tech industry at the moment? What are the challenges you are facing, how is the market at the moment, and what needs to change? What should the priorities be in health tech in the next 12 months?

Here’s what people had to say.

Hannah Gibson, director of UK and global partners for Visiba, said: “With a likely change in government on the horizon, there is a clear commitment to accelerate the safe adoption of AI in healthcare across the board. To quote a senior healthcare figure, ‘The impact of AI in the next two years has been overestimated, but the impact of AI in the next five years has been underestimated.'” Between now and 2029, Hannah expects to see “a period of market consolidation, where the hype falls away and the system looks to real examples of meaningful and most importantly, safe, deployment of AI. We are expecting subject matter experts to emerge, and a focus shift away from market-hype and towards evidence-based deployment and scaling. For the health tech industry, this should be a period for organisations with strong clinical and quality foundations to excel.”

From Patchwork Health, senior strategy and ops lead Michelle She reflected that the healthcare system “is under strain due to an ageing population, increased demand for services, and burnout among healthcare workers. Some of the problems we set out to solve with technology are compounding due to other issues and trends. Sometimes it can be difficult to demonstrate the value that tech has brought to solve these issues for organisations that are still struggling with a multitude of concerns, but there is a need for innovative technology solutions that can optimise workforce management, enhance productivity, and improve job satisfaction. Priorities for the next 12 months should include investing in AI-driven scheduling tools, telehealth platforms, and robust data analytics to streamline operations and support overburdened staff.”

Charlotte Ralph-Gledhill (commercial support officer) and Nick Roots (business development manager) of h-trak said that it all comes back to “one word – finance! Feedback from organisations is clear, there’s the will and enthusiasm to proceed but time and time again budgets get slashed and digital sees a big cut. It’s usually a new process, system or hardware, so implementations seem costly and even if the ROI offers huge benefits it’s all about the initial investment. Finances are stretched and, in the face of political uncertainty, who knows what the next spending priority is going to be and where funds are going to be diverted. There’s necessary caution here because of how uncertain things are and it always boils down to budget.”

They continued: “Ideally, there should be more support in terms of proposals that can release this cash and measurably save staff time and improve patient safety, with the long-term focus and gains looked at and support given for projects that have these benefits. The technology is there to drive savings but there needs to be the support to release that initial investment, in order to make countless savings (both cost and time) across the board with various processes.”

Osman Bhatti, GP and chief clinical information officer at North East London ICB, shared his view: “It’s great to see emerging technologies with digital health and the exciting future our patients can be better cared for. But there are challenges, namely clinical safety – quite a few areas have not grasped the concept of clinical safety, the importance of having this recognised and managed and having regular discussions to ensure risks are logged to ensure the best outcome from the use of these emerging technologies.”

“The NHS needs to think bigger and bolder to achieve the productivity and prevention goals its leaders mention so often,” said Grace Gimson, founder and CEO at Holly Health. “There are tens of digital services (for example, companies on the NHS Innovation Accelerator) with significant ROI outcomes in NHS deployment, bringing more than £10 savings for each £1 invested. However, they are not being adopted at ICS or national scale. Leaders must look at what’s working locally and replicate the impact nationally and regionally through new digital investment.”

Without “significant new digital investment into the solutions which are already evidenced to work, and reduce spending, many health tech startups and larger companies will need to leave the UK and NHS for more sustainable markets overseas. This will leave the NHS & UK patients with minimal options to increase productivity and outcomes,” Grace predicted.

Alison Johnson, SVP for UK Health Systems at ORCHA, shared ORCHA’s view that the market is “currently navigating a complex landscape marked by increasing demand for digital health solutions, regulatory hurdles, and the need for greater integration of patient-facing technologies into mainstream healthcare practices.” Regulatory compliance is a challenge, Alison noted, with a need to adhere to frameworks such as UKCA, NICE EVA and NHSE DTAC. Integration and interoperability is another challenge, with a “pressing need for digital health tools to seamlessly integrate with existing healthcare systems”; and building and maintaining trust among users can also be challenging, with ORCHA stating that ensuring data security and privacy is “paramount in fostering this trust”. The final challenge raised by the time was that of scalability and accessibility to make solutions accessible to a broader population.

On necessary changes and priorities for the next 12 months, Alison shared hopes for enhanced adoption of patient-facing digital tools, with a need to encourage healthcare professionals to recommend and utilise tools to alleviate pressures and prevent crises. “The NHS New Hospital Programme is an ideal platform to spearhead this integration, and be a trailblazer for a future blueprint,” she said. Other hopes and priorities from ORCHA include regulatory frameworks and standards; focus on data security and privacy; investment into inoperability; patient and clinician education; and investment in prevention.

A young health tech startup offering an AI/ML decision support product for the acute hospitals sector said that a perennial problem is addressing the NHS market, stating: “It’s confusing, with purchasing power distributed non-uniformly and differently in each trust. Ultimately, it’s a struggling, cash-starved system, which drives risk aversion.”

The startup called the Federated Data Platform a potential “game-changer”, pointing to the example of Apple’s App Store and Google Play marketplaces and stating: “We like to imagine a world where trusts could benefit from a diverse marketplace of tools that safely capitalise on existing data, but (like any good app) they’d pay nothing to test it out and ‘kick the tyres’ a bit! 18 years after Apple launched their tool, we know that what drives in-app purchases is genuine value creation and delight – facilitated by intuitive, human-centred design that doesn’t come with a mandatory week-long training course or a thick manual! The NHS could do with a bit of this!”

Regarding priorities, the startup suggested that focus should lie on lifting the basic IT infrastructure of hospitals; implementing a “multi-pronged push to properly capitalise on the huge NHS England investments in recent years”; and “demanding more from our tech providers and using collective purchasing to simply ban products that don’t meet our strategic objectives”. On this, the startup shared the view that NHSE should create a “UI/UX Gold Standard that all EPRS need to meet within three years, and a mechanism to cancel/curtail their contracts if they don’t meet them”, and ban tech solutions that don’t have interoperability ‘out of the box’.

Dr Rachael Grimaldi, co-founder and CEO at CardMedic, agreed that it is a difficult landscape for young companies: “As a relatively young but scaling company, the barriers to achieving adoption of your innovation are unfortunately significant. Joining frameworks as an early-stage business is critical to helping NHS organisations procure your solution, but the criteria to join such frameworks are usually more challenging than trying to engage in commercial conversations off-framework. By the nature of providing an innovative solution to a current problem, often there is no frame of reference for the innovation. This combined with the burden of proof and compliance thresholds, stifles innovation. Unfortunately, this is why so many innovators are focusing their growth strategies on other health systems, and the private market.”

From University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, chief clinical information officer and deputy chief medical officer Dr Penny Kechagioglou said that the urgency in using digital technology at present lies in “ensuring it aligns with organisational and system priorities. The challenge in deploying digital tech is when it does not fulfil the needs of end users, whether citizens, patients or workforce. Key performance indicators in the form of value-adding outcomes need to be defined before implementing new digital technologies. Evaluation of digital tech implementation needs to start early, during the strategic and design phase. By doing so, outcomes can be measured and shared so that digital tech adoption can be scaled. As a result, more people can benefit from innovative technologies and benefits can spread across organisations and systems.”

Lara Mott, CEO of ImproveWell, said that with new companies appearing constantly in this space, “it’s important to clearly communicate why you are truly innovative and an essential, rather than a ‘nice-to-have’, for increasingly cash-strapped healthcare organisations.” Despite the excitement and focus on innovation, Lara said that it continues to come as a surprise to her that growth is still “so linked to word of mouth recommendations. In addition to the usual procurement processes, we’ve seen that providing fantastic customer service to one healthcare provider can open doors to another. Having more than one route to working with healthcare organisations can be a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity, particularly for companies like ours where personalised service is a key USP.”

ImproveWell’s experience of the market “has been very up and down this year,” she reflected, “with some healthcare budget decisions being delayed because of uncertainty in the wider external environment. Health tech should make showing why they are crucial to getting through these challenging times a priority.”

From Healthtech-1, catalyst Matthew Payne shared the belief that “the UK is the best place to be for health tech companies. Our NHS is a wonderful thing! Care provided for free at the point of need, not based on how much you can afford. And NHS staff deserve technology that actually works for them. Tech that supports them to provide world-class care.”

Matthew continued: “Practices need easier ways to choose the technology they want to use, especially for new technology like automation. The appetite is there! NHS staff are calling out for tech that works and solves the pains they’re facing. But the hoops they have to jump through to find the money to pay for it make it not worth it. More freedom in, or more dedicated, budgets for automation and productivity technology should be a priority to allow NHS staff more choice. This will truly create the thriving health tech market to drive innovation, productivity, and patient outcomes. We encourage the health tech market to design their products with the end user closely woven into their development. NHS staff don’t just need another tool, they need a solution.”

Jonathan Elliott, managing director at Epro, said that for his team being passionate about doing the right thing for the NHS means “helping clinicians and administration staff be as productive as possible using innovative software that has been designed specifically to meet the needs of the NHS. We are acutely aware of the challenges on public finances and are committed to delivery true value for money to the taxpayer as well as industry benchmark system usability for healthcare staff. In the immediate aftermath of the election, we would like to see a renewed focus on clinical efficiency to support waiting time and backlog reductions” as well as “procurements focussed on solutions that can deliver measurable productivity benefits at a low cost, with minimal disruption and in a short time period.”

The future of health tech is “indisputably intertwined with social care,” pointed out Steve Sawyer, managing director at Access HSC (Health Support and Care). “It is vital that we recognise social care as a critical component and an equal partner in delivering person-centred care. While efforts to integrate health and social care services are improving, the transition to a more proactive and preventative approach remains essential.”

He noted that currently there is “significant variation in digital maturity between health and social care sectors” and said: “Innovative solutions should be prioritised to free up time for staff, allowing them to focus on delivering high-quality care. An integrated system across the care continuum can address the challenges of capacity, cost, and complexity by emphasising prevention and ensuring services are delivered at the right place and the right time. Data privacy and protection must also be at the forefront, meeting the highest standards to ensure patient trust and safety. Breaking down the friction between services and care settings will enable providers to realise the full potential of technology. The new government must pivot towards long-term strategies that support integrated, person-centred care rather than short-term funding pockets that fail to deliver sustained impact. By focusing on these priorities, we can pave the way for a more efficient, effective, and sustainable healthcare system.”

From Altera Digital Health UK, executive vice president Rachael Fox noted the increased risk of backlog once the election period is over due to invitations to tender becoming delayed over recent months. “As such, for the remainder of the year it’s likely suppliers will be faced with having to choose which tenders they respond to, reducing the levels of competition for each tender, which may then mean trusts aren’t getting the best solution for their staff and patients.

“That said, the many tender opportunities concerned with the EPR convergence agenda are inspiring greater competition among suppliers as we seek to provide the best possible solutions for the NHS. This has undoubtedly been supported by the frontline digitisation programme funding, but financial pressures do continue and these projects risk being kicked into the long grass. This is especially the case when traditional approaches to technology, especially EPR deployments, exhaust available budgets.”

She continued:  “What is more important now than ever before is making sure the NHS knows there is an alternative approach to buying and procuring an EPR. Within these financially challenging times, trusts must know they can build on top of the systems they have already invested in rather than taking the ‘rip and replace’ approach. It’s an affordable, faster, and safer way to improve digital maturity. The remaining funding available through the frontline digitisation programme should be used to enable all trusts to procure a cost effective EPR in this way, so trusts can keep building on their transformation journey without disrupting patient care and getting a return on investment.”

Kenny Bloxham, managing director at Healthcare Communications, also reflected on the impact of the election. “Like many industries, the election has created a short period of uncertainty, and we’re keen for the new government to be formed,” Kenny said, noting a need to be able to “pivot towards supporting [a new government’s] key priorities for healthcare with digital enablers.” He added that it is “encouraging” to see a digital-first approach for patient engagement feature in political party manifestos.

“Since NHSE has driven patient engagement portals and integration into the NHS App across secondary care, this has kept the market focused. As projects are deployed, and consolidation is achieved the market will start to address what else can be done to further enhance digital patient engagement. Inclusive patient experiences need to be much higher on the agenda. Progress has been made but equitable access is an urgent crisis in the UK. We intend to continue striving forward with further enhancements to our multi-channel approach for communications to help patients overcome daily challenges in accessing healthcare.”

Antoine Lever, commercial director at babblevoice, reflected: “It’s a time of rapid evolution so there’s a lot to consider, but one of the most exciting and promising areas is the integration of AI. We’re thinking a lot about the opportunities AI presents and the profound impact it can have on addressing the growing demand for healthcare services. Realising benefits in a safe and effective way for patients is paramount. Fostering partnerships and ensuring patient trust should also be at the forefront of health tech priorities in the coming year. A strong focus on tech integration, encouraging effective collaboration between the NHS and tech providers is essential.”

Regarding patients, Antoine said that ensuring that there is the right amount of implementation resource at the right time is “crucial”, but the nature of the NHS’s purchasing patterns “complicates this process.” Additionally, with the general election bringing a period of uncertainty, he shared the view that “stability and continuity in terms of organisational structure is needed to help health tech planning and implementation move at pace, ensuring consistent progress in improving healthcare services.”

From Lexacom, managing director Dr Andrew Whiteley said: “Through the use of devices like smart watches, smart scales, and blood pressure monitors, health technology is already helping patients track their health more keenly than ever. This trend is further increasing; respiratory rate, pulse, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation can now all be monitored with a standard digital camera mounted in a ward or room. As these capabilities become integrated with other devices, smart home assistants will soon be reviewing health patterns and offering advice. Health technology is ever reducing the need for face to face consultations, and as the shift towards monitoring health at home continues it could give time-pressed clinical staff increased capacity for complex patient care.”

We heard from Sara Bristow, head of PLMR Healthcomms, as she shared that working alongside a range of partners means that PLMR Healthcomms consultants are “exposed to a number of critical barriers to the regulation, assessment and adoption of health technologies across the NHS. A common theme across our work is the rapid movement from NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care towards cost-cutting measures and policies relating to the adoption and assessment of health tech.” She reflected that “the broader intent of the system, in relation to the adoption of health tech, is concerning – now looking to opt for cost over wider value.

“Health tech has so much to offer the NHS. From sutures and needles, to robots and MRI scanners, the opportunities for service efficiencies clinical outcomes and patient choice are endless. However, there are concerns from across the system that if NHS and government continue to pursue cost-savings over holistic value, these will never be realised.”

Over the next 12 months, Sara hopes that the DHSC, NHSE and its arms-length bodies “shift the dial in how they regulate, assess, adopt and value medical technologies, looking at the policies in process and how they weight cost and value. If the polls are to be believed, the prospects of a new government may present this unique opportunity.”

Fenwick Smith, CEO at Floki Health, commented on the “systemic challenges” facing the vision of a more efficient health service, such as business workflows and improved data sharing, and noted by adopting and adapting proven tech from other sectors such as manufacturing, the NHS can “greatly benefit”.

Fenwick added: “While the NHS is working hard to morph into a more dynamic service-based operation, greater effort needs to be invested in the co-production of integrations and systems interoperability. Connecting ‘physical locational data’ to existing NHS systems—building on previous investments—presents a great opportunity to enhance operational efficiencies. Real-time data can bring equipment, staff, and patients all together, facilitating automation, continually improving services and the efficiency of healthcare being delivered.”

Contributing views from Answer Digital, healthcare sales lead Luke Snelling pointed out that many challenges faced by NHS digital teams can be “boiled down to financial resources and capacity. While providing more money and people is necessary, it’s not sufficient for solving many of the big issues. Take the healthcare AI market as an example. The market and existing funding from the centre have already supported multiple success stories of accelerating the deployment of AI. However, as a result of sometimes unpredictable procurement processes, regulatory ambiguity and a huge diversity in what good looks like for deployment, this often doesn’t happen, and pilot projects are often not set up to successfully scale.

“In recent discussions with NHS leaders, I sense a return of cautious optimism. But if digital transformation is to really fulfil its potential impact on the recovery of the healthcare system, we need to focus on solutions that are tried and tested and ready to deploy right now. This means learning from the pockets of best practice with regards to deploying these solutions and helping them to become widespread – that’s the best way of helping change things at scale. The good news is there is so much willingness for partners to get around the table and make that change happen.”

From Accurx, VP growth Becky Gray said that whilst Accurx is “often met with excitement for our solutions, there is currently not enough change management capacity within the NHS, particularly in acute trusts, to actually deliver the level of digital transformation that is needed. With the new government, we would love to see an increase in the capacity the NHS has to deliver innovative change. This could be in the form of transformation and change teams, as well as investment in training for managers more generally.”

To help drive this, she said, “we also want to see NHS tech budgets protected for those who are trying to drive digital transformation, so they can have certainty that projects will be seen through as they map their strategy. On the supplier side, we need to see simplified procurement routes overall, as well as better routes for innovators and less known solutions to enter new markets. This could be through improving ways for them to be tested, evaluated and verified by those who are involved in digital transformation.”

Rupal Thakarshi, managing consultant at Apira, stated that the healthcare industry “is in the midst of a data revolution. No longer confined to static patient files, we are witnessing transformative changes aimed at supporting more efficient patient care.” Challenges noted in this space include the incomplete implementation of EPRs, with a need to integrate them with digitised legacy patient records; the need to continuously optimise EPRs and EDMS to ensure user experience and maximise benefits; and the current date of data capture and prevention. “While supporting patients through their clinical journey and into recovery is vital, the importance of comprehensive and accurate data capture is often overlooked,” Rupal reflected. “This oversight can lead to missed opportunities in preventive care and early intervention.”

What should the priorities be over the next 12 months? “By focusing on interoperability, comprehensive digitisation, and the innovative use of AI, we can overcome current challenges and pave the way for a more efficient and effective healthcare system,” said Rupal. “The next 12 months will be crucial in setting the foundation for these advancements, ultimately leading to better patient care and outcomes.”

From Rapid Health, CEO Carmelo Insalaco said that the next 12 months should see a “focus on maximising the efficiency of our current healthcare workforce. Simply increasing the number of doctors is not the answer; the priority should be on freeing up doctors’ time from unnecessary tasks and making use of technology to better manage and balance patient demand. Smart technologies can transform and further elevate the modern general practice access model by providing a comprehensive understanding of demand and capacity in primary care. Triage technology can successfully provide the right type of appointment to the right person from the outset, therefore providing the practice with accurate data on the number of appointments needed. Changing the way we manage appointment booking and triage in primary care will also provide a better experience for patients.

“The other challenge is how we streamline and better integrate patient pathways between primary and secondary care to cater for the unique needs of the local population. This integrated approach is crucial for reducing the strain on hospitals, which is partly caused by pressures in primary care. This will be especially important when it comes to services such as mental health provision.”

Insights were shared by Sarah Corbridge, director of Credera, in which she noted that the emphasis for health tech in the UK is “doing the best with the resources that are available, and prioritising use of these resources well. Long term, I hope this crisis passes and we can innovate across the system, but to ignore these short term priorities would be naïve. One example of this is infrastructure. Many health tech solutions that exist require strong foundations in the infrastructure of the organisation, such as staff equipment, connectivity, and particularly data structure for any AI use cases. Without secure staff equipment, or sufficient bandwidth & coverage for hospital-wide clinical use of the internet on the move, or a functional data lake, innovative solutions will struggle to take root. The industry needs to be aware of its dependencies on these and support the system in building these foundations where appropriate while using what already exists in an efficient manner.

“Innovations need to be focused on improving patient outcomes in a partnered and efficient way that does not require the system to change overnight. To think you can change overnight is, impossible, naïve, and some cases dangerous due to the layers and layers… and layers… of existing systems and workload that the frontline and clinical staff are facing. Integration with these systems is both difficult and critical for patient safety, and therefore interoperability between systems should be a priority for the health tech community in the next 12 months.”

We heard from Jim McNair, business development director at Lenus Health, as he shared his views on “two major trends” on his mind: “Firstly, the amount of data generated from devices and wearables outside of traditional hospital settings, and secondly, the growing use of machine learning to make sense of these data streams to allow provide actionable insights to clinical teams.”

On challenges, Jim noted that there is “significant fragmentation of data across different care settings” and whilst a number of programmes are “attempting to address these challenges, data access remains a big hurdle to growth and improved care.”

As ICBs move from set-up to operational phases, “new programmes and initiatives to address their key challenges will develop. However these need to address cross setting activities to build a truly integrated care approach. There is still a view that one thing is a primary care problem and another is secondary care. They should realise this is a continuum and services need to be integrated to be successful.”

As for what priorities should be in this space, Jim shared hopes for a “focus on transforming care models to be more proactive and preventative rather than reactive and high-cost. This should combine population management and direct intervention approaches that leverage patient-generated health data and predictive AI to provide better insights into patient risk and optimise care interventions. Initiatives such as virtual wards should evolve to focus more on admission avoidance ahead of an acute event, rather than early discharge. This requires a shift towards a longer timeframe for delivery across settings.”

Speaking from System C, CEO Nick Wilson commented: “To drive the real positive and fast change needed from digital in health over the next 12 months demands a laser focus on building upon the systems ICSs and trusts already have. Making sound financial decisions means trusts will have to build on their successful existing investments and demonstrate rapid ROI. With the pressure on the workforce, implementing new systems can no longer mean we go backwards for two years while things ‘bed in’. We also need to ensure that the NHS and public sector prioritise the amazing innovation and talent in UK tech by buying British as a priority.

“We would like to see the next government place more emphasis on connecting care with existing systems to avoid substantial delays and the huge disruption regularly associated with implementing new and unproven solutions across care settings. Recently we’ve seen many examples where organisations will never come close to delivering on the eye watering benefits promised to make the business case stack up, so speed and long-term accountability are critical.”

From Iron Mountain, head of public sector Simon McNair commented: “The digitalisation of pathology is an important step towards a sustainable healthcare system. It has the potential to relieve the burden on specialist staff and improve the patient experience. Digital pathology enables the rapid acquisition, storage, analysis and distribution of tissue and cell samples. transport to get them from various archives. Resulting in a process that previously took weeks shortened to hours with digital pathology.”

Simon added: “Hospitals and organisations do not need a comprehensive IT infrastructure for digital pathology: high-resolution scans can be stored anonymously, legally compliant, and easily accessible in cloud solutions or databases by an experienced partner. As the healthcare industry looks to the next 12 months, digital processes and solutions can be key to improving the efficiency of diagnostics, treatment decisions and the patient experience. It also opens the door for future innovations in medical diagnostics through artificial intelligence and machine learning.”

Mike Egerton, chief marketing officer for Liaison Group, offered the perspective that the healthcare financial landscape “is one of huge challenge, with deficits growing and continuous cost pressures. Organisations are faced with staffing issues due to high levels of absence and turnover, which are compounded with challenges in retaining and attracting staffing, many of whom are now looking for more flexible ways of working. This is leading trusts to use agency staffing to plug clinical gaps, resulting in agency usage being the largest contributor to over-expenditure in workforce costs. Relating to this, we regularly see the challenge for organisations of procuring healthcare technology based on price rather than quality, leading to additional issues such as not receiving end-to-end support to enable the delivery of the technology solutions to ensure their success. Effective technology usage is reliant on implementation and change management across an organisation, and we believe that this should be a standard part of the service and not an add-on, to ensure that any procurement is successfully implemented.”

Sharing views from Magentus EMEA, managing director Maddy Phipps-Taylor said that regardless of uncertainty around the general election, there are “undeniable facts about the demand for healthcare steadily rising, the workforce shortage, and the modest increases in funding. Despite tight digital budgets, tech remains one of the levers for meaningful change to create a sustainable modern health service. Across the market we are seeing greater collaboration and integration. This trend has been steadily growing and now regional imaging network procurements are starting to drive forward the tech agenda. This is helping to match supply and demand across a region, and offer greater flexibility and choice to patients where that is possible. Region and national initiatives are key, and complementary in many ways, to progressing forward this ideological shift in tech strategies.”

Cyber security concerns are “ever present,” Maddy continued, “and the recent high-profile attacks should be a catalyst for further change. Collaboration and exchange between hospital and health system infrastructure providers and health tech providers remains key to mitigate risks and respond appropriately (and very fast!) should something occur.”

She also reflected that the promise of AI is a “shining frontier” in health tech. “How we safely embed AI into routine processes around a patient’s journey, and use it to help clinicians and administrators to deliver better, and also frankly more care, is key. Discussion around the AI-human interface, impact on workloads and working practices, the ethics of AI failures and who is accountable, are all thoughtful discussions happening across the ecosystem today. This cuts across many domains and should bring together voices representing patients, health professionals, ethicists, tech developers, and data scientists. Giving space to this work should be a priority to ensure safe, viable, sustainable and empowering use cases are taken forward, and the other concepts are ‘fast failed’.”

Dr Shubs Upadhyay, director of medical quality at Ada Health, noted that he has been thinking about how AI can be used to bridge the gaps in the healthcare system whilst ensuring credible, clinically-validated outputs, and also considering the need to prioritise trust, value, and long-term partnerships across the industry.

There is a lot of potential around how AI can contribute to the healthcare industry, Shubs acknowledged. “But with every new and promising technology, come new and complicated challenges. AI tech, as incredible as it is, cannot think for itself. The AI is only as good as its training and development, which is why we need to ensure that a credible human source is building and validating an AI’s outputs. Having medical doctors code and validate any suggested treatments, diagnoses, or advice given to users is vital to ensuring that these healthcare tools are reliable and valuable, rather than unreliable and dangerous. Not every health AI system makes sure of this, but in order to provide trusted services I believe they must.

“Apart from the tech itself, the promise of AI has also changed the landscape of the health tech industry, leading to a more crowded market. This brings up the challenge of identifying who in this growing space is a trusted and long-term player. It’s really important to think about how digital tools create value and return on investment for patients, clinicians, health systems, and partners. I’ve seen the industry hyper-fixate on company savings and revenue and am worried we’re losing sight of the bigger picture. At the end of the day, health tech goes hand-in-hand with health care and is about the people we’re trying to help.”

Shubs concluded: “It’s important to remember that it takes time and investment to sustainably create an effective and valuable health tool. With AI entering the health tech arena, more regulations for the technology are starting to show up. Considering which companies have robust quality management systems and lean into these new regulatory requirements is one way to identify a trustworthy player. Instead of hyper-focusing on financial ROIs, we should lend some attention to identifying value actors in the space – those who are committed to real digital transformation that will improve patient outcomes, streamline clinician workloads, upgrade outdated health systems and close other gaps still un-mended across the industry.”

We put forward four possible answers – a lack of a national strategy, suppliers and systems, the need for dedicated funding to support interoperability, or the reality of organisations solving challenges alone.

31 percent of respondents believed that the lack of national strategy is the biggest challenge for interoperability, with voters including deputy chief medical officer, associate director for clinical informatics, digital programme manager and chief clinical information officer.

Close behind, 29 percent of voters said that the biggest challenge is the need for dedicated funding to support interoperability. We saw votes here from roles such as PCN digital and transformation lead, deputy chief nurse and innovation consultant.

Next up, 24 percent voted that suppliers and systems can pose the biggest challenge; votes came in from roles including matron, EPR configuration analyst and project manager.

Finally, 16 percent of our respondents selected the option of organisations solving challenges alone. For this response, voters included head of digital transformation, GP and nurse.

Which would you have chosen?

In other news around interoperability, in March we highlighted how the Department of Health and Social Care published a prior information notice highlighting an opportunity for market engagement activities around the planned procurement of an interoperability platform to support adult social care. The platform or services will be intended to support data sharing between digital social care record systems in care homes, nursing homes and domiciliary care, and systems used by NHS providers including GPs, hospitals, community services and social care.

We highlighted updates to three Google Cloud solutions aiming to support healthcare and life sciences organisations in enabling interoperability, building stronger data foundations and deploying generative AI tools in the hopes of improving patient outcomes. Read more here.

HTN also explored the ‘Interoperability Saves Lives’ report from The Alberta Virtual Care Coordinating Body, which identifies several factors believed to be hampering provincial progress in health data interoperability and making recommendations on legislation, design, assurance, and oversight.

Of the votes received, the majority said that an organisational real-time situational view would be the most helpful in terms of improving patient flow, with this option receiving 32 percent of votes and voters from professions including data analytics and AI expert, B2B operations coordinator, and chief digital and technology officer.

Funding for digital tools claimed 24 percent of votes, including from a chief digital information officer, test analyst, primary care network manager and project manager. On level with this, 24 percent of voters said that getting better at identifying gaps was most needed to help patient flow, with voters including practice manager, medical statistician and corporate director.

20 percent voters said that knowing where the challenges are would be the most helpful, with voters for this option including consultant in anaesthesia & critical care, PCN clinical pharmacy technician, PCN digital and transformation lead, and consultant physiotherapist.

What would your vote have been? To ensure you don’t miss out on future polls, please click here to connect with us on LinkedIn.

HTN previously hosted a panel discussion patient flow and virtual care, welcoming Dr Penny Kechagioglou, chief clinical information officer and deputy chief medical officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire; Lee Rickles, chief information officer at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust; and Paul Deffley, UK chief medical officer for Alcidion. As part of the discussion, Penny noted that improving patient flow needs to be a “collaborative, iterative process” with a need to “think about your population needs, who you are going to partner with [and] understand your data. Then you build a workflow or a series of workflows which are integrated across the system.”

Lee agreed: “I think it comes back to identifying what patient flow actually means to you and the problems you are trying to achieve. You need to look at things like the number of incidents that have occurred during provision of care – they are the areas that you should probably focus on. You need evidenced problems, not just a gut feel.”

Catch up on the panel here to read their insights in full.

Out of 155 votes, the first option of ‘one to three’ received a clear majority with 51 percent of the vote. Here, we saw voters including urgent care operations manager, CNIO, director of digital, and digital care planning capability lead.

At the other end of the spectrum, 29 percent of respondents believe that there will be more than seven GP clinical system suppliers in five years’ time. For this option, voters included service performance and delivery manager, information security officer, group deputy COO, senior network engineer, and category buyer in digital and IT.

Finally, 20 percent of voters expect to see four to six suppliers in this area in five years, with these voters including technical architect, senior programme consultant, EPR consultant and CIO.

How many GP clinical system suppliers do you expect to see in five years’ time? Click here to follow HTN on LinkedIn for the opportunity to take part in future polls.

In other news around, Jersey’s comptroller and auditor general has published a review on the nation’s EPR implementation, highlighting the need for “greater focus on effective stakeholder and user engagement, as well as more effective discipline around the identification, monitoring and delivery of benefits”.

Elsewhere we reported that the New Victoria Hospital in London has signed a contract with MEDITECH to provide its web-based electronic health record, Expanse, with the EHR to be hosted on the Google Cloud Platform through MEDITECH UK and provided as a “subscription-based solution”.

On 15 May (12pm – 1pm), we are hosting a virtual discussion panel on the topic adding value to your EPR – to register, please click here.

Over on LinkedIn, we asked our audience for views on where digital investment should go in the short term – to patient-facing technology; cross-organisational workflows; data, demand and visibility tools; or digitising/removing paper?

We received over 130 votes and views were fairly spread out, with cross-organisational workflows taking the lead with 36 percent of the vote. Here, we saw voters including senior project manager, PCN lead, chief clinical information officer and programme manager.

Digitising or removing paper was up next at 25 percent, with patient-facing tech close behind at 23 percent. For the first, votes came from roles such as cyber security lead, chief information officer and mental health nurse; for the second, voters included digital technical manager, chief technology officer and CEO.

Finally, 16 percent of voters thought that the short-term investment should go into data, demand and visibility tools. These voters included information support manager, GP and deputy chief nurse.

Click here to follow HTN on LinkedIn for the opportunity to take part in future polls.

On the topic of improving workflows, last year HTN produced a special report focusing on pathways, cross-organisational workflows and region-wide projects, in which we looked into news, case studies and resources in this area. One of our HTN Award categories last year was also ‘health tech digital pathway and workflow optimisation’ which saw us highlight the work that a range of finalists are doing in this space; click here to read more about their projects and programmes.

With regards to digitising or removing paper, we recently explored a white paper from Restore Records Management which looks into how patient records in the NHS can be optimised; we heard from CCube Solutions’ Vijay Magon on the patient information landscape; and on a related note, last month we noted that NHS Education for Scotland has announced the launch of “paperless placements” for nursing students at the University of Dundee.

HTN looked into patient-facing tech here and asked our readers for views on what could improve the success of patient portals and patient-facing tech in this post.

Finally, on data, demand and visibility tools, you can catch up with our coverage of Somerset NHS Trust’s strategic data themes here, including a focus on predictive modelling, data dashboards and early warning systems; and read about the plans for a decentralised data ecosystem between six of Europe’s children’s hospitals here.

For our latest poll, we asked our LinkedIn audience: if you had additional funding, which area should be the priority for an ICS and digital across a system? 

Nearly half of the voters said that infrastructure and connectivity should take precedence, with 48 percent of the vote going to this option. Respondents in this area included digital transformation director; information technology business manager; maternity transformation programme manager; and head of urgent and emergency care.

Tied in second place, 18 percent of voters believed that the priority should be scaling remote care and citizen/workforce skills. For scaling remote care, votes came in from roles such as deputy chief digital information officer, PCN manager and senior project manager; for building citizen and workforce skills, we saw votes from chief information officer, head of digital services and director of digital.

Finally, innovations for ICS challenges took 16 percent of the vote. For this option, votes came in from positions including physician, commercial director and marketing lead.

Which option would you choose?

Follow us on LinkedIn for the opportunity to vote in future polls here.

In our recent thought leadership piece on the digital landscape for PCNs and practice practice managers, we explored our audience’s thoughts on where the digital priority should lie for primary care.

Last year, we asked what the biggest challenge is with interoperability across health and care – click here to find out the poll results.