Industry experts share first impressions on plans for a digital by default NHS
On the launch day of the UK’s 10-Year Health Plan, industry leaders, clinicians, and technologists gathered for the first time to respond to the government’s vision for a “digital by default” NHS.
The event, organised by The Future Health and sponsored by Ready Computing, featured discussions on patient-centred technology, the critical need for interoperability, and the challenge of turning rhetoric into reality.
Hosted at InterSystems’ UK headquarters in Windsor, health tech expert Lloyd Price, Partner at Nelson Advisors, chaired and moderated the fascinating debate
Putting patients in control
A key proposal in the plan is the shift from regional hospitals to local neighbourhood care. Lorna McArthur, Clinical Executive Manager at InterSystems, welcomed the change, noting its potential to support preventative approaches that could reduce hospital admissions.
Going back to neighbourhood hospitals “is the right thing for patients and their relatives”, she said. “The question is how.”
Rami Riman, Director of Clinical and Business Improvements at InterSystems, welcomed the plan’s acknowledgement that there aren’t enough resources to cope with the growing demands placed on health systems.
Technology is now widely available to give clinicians the time and capacity to do more of what is asked of them; it can also give patients more control.
The US has gone on a similar journey to the UK, undertaking a digital health transformation over several years.
James Gallagher, COO of Ready Computing, outlined four stages the US went through, from EPR adoption to interoperability, integrating social determinants, and now AI.
He noted that the UK looks to be attempting to tackle all four at once, and momentum will need to be maintained.
Interoperability: The backbone of transformation
Interoperability is central to digital transformation, but delegates expressed concern that the NHS risks repeating historic mistakes around data sharing, which has seen multiple systems and workarounds add to the burden on staff.
Gallagher shared a successful US experience about how his team used InterSystems’ HealthShare platform to unify over 15 million patient records across the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
He discussed how the inclusion of non-clinical data can aid care decisions and avoid significant costs for health systems.
However, he cautioned that meaningful interoperability requires more than just connectivity; it means engaging with end users to give the information they need when they need it.
Nursing champion McArthur supported the need for a team-based, patient-centred view: “It’s about having the insight from community, social, mental health, from being in an acute hospital, having all that information at your fingertips. We need a solution that delivers that for all.”
Leveraging data and AI to move forward
Questions remain around how to provide a holistic view of the patient ethically, efficiently, and in line with information governance.
Could giving individuals control over their own health records aid data sharing and resolve such issues?
The single patient record, recently announced as part of the NHS 10 Year Plan, which aims to give patients more control, will have such challenges to deal with.
Gallagher pointed to the approach taken in the US, where initial attempts at interoperability failed. The US had to legislate so that suppliers would share the information to push it forward.
The UK faces similar dilemmas, and many at the event agreed a more open approach to data sharing was needed.
The conversation turned to AI.
Despite the hope and hype, it was felt many AI tools remain immature and unregulated. Panel members noted the challenge of keeping regulation in step with progress.
Kevin McDonnell, Co-Founder of The Future Health, summed up the problem: “When I work with AI companies, the biggest challenge isn’t that they couldn’t add value.
“It’s that it is going to take six months to get it regulated. And by the time it is regulated, it’s 10 years out of date as the tech moves so quickly.”
Making the vision a reality
The panel broadly agreed that the strategy is ambitious.
Shane Tickell, chair of TechUK’s Health and Social Care Council and a contributor to the plan, called on his fellow delegates to embrace its vision.
Delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan remains uncertain, with concerns raised about the funding, workforce capacity, and legal frameworks required to turn vision into action.
Chair, Lloyd Price posed a provocative question: does the healthcare workforce need a pause after years of change?
McArthur responded that the workforce would come together and move forward with the right plan and the right goals.
McDonnell questioned the potential for technology to impact an already overburdened workforce.
“You can’t tell healthcare professionals and organisations the things that they should be doing without the support that enables them to do it,” he said.
Riman shared his clinical insight, stressing that health innovations must be able to show tangible benefits for healthcare providers, such as reducing no-shows and preventable admissions, if they are to gain traction and align with the Plan’s ambitions.
Powering the next decade
What emerged in Windsor was more than just a panel discussion – it was a call for coordinated action around a plan that was more vision than instruction manual.
Its success will depend on whether healthcare, technology, and policy can move forward together, and this event gave an unrivalled opportunity for such collaboration.
Details on what comes next will be very closely watched.
Panel Members
Lloyd Price, Partner at Nelson Advisors
James Gallagher, COO of Ready Computing
Rami Riman, Director of Clinical and Business Improvements at InterSystems
Lorna McArthur, Clinical Executive Manager at InterSystems
