Digital health sector reacts to NHS 10 year health plan

The government officially launched its long-awaited NHS 10 year health plan today, setting out an ambition for the NHS to be ‘digital by default’.

Suppliers and think tanks in the UK health technology sector welcomed the plan embracing innovation and recognising technology as a key pillar for the future of the NHS, however some raised concerns around whether there will be enough investment and committment to turn digital plans into a reality.

Here’s what they had to say:

Dame Barbara Hakin, chair, Health Tech Alliance and former deputy chief executive, NHS England:

“The Health Tech Alliance welcomes the direction set out in the government’s 10 year health plan, particularly the recognition of health tech as a key pillar underpinning the future of the NHS.

“We are pleased to see the prominent role given to digital and tech innovation which shows a clear understanding that modern healthcare must be both resilient and responsive to patient needs.

“We are especially encouraged by the introduction of the Innovator Passport and the establishment of a rules-based pathway for medical technologies.

“The Innovator Passport, designed to streamline the adoption of new technologies across NHS trusts, will reduce admin burdens and facilitate a more cohesive and efficient integration of effective innovations into NHS patient care.”

Dr Jennifer Dixon DBE, chief executive, Health Foundation:

“‘From what we’ve seen so far, the broad ambitions of the 10-year health plan – strengthening primary and community services, boosting prevention and harnessing new technology to help make it happen – are the right direction for the NHS.

‘The NHS is not broken but – in the words of Lord Darzi – it is in a critical condition. The public overwhelmingly supports the NHS model – a universal, comprehensive, tax-funded system that is free at the point of use. So, we welcome the scale of the government’s ambition and commitment to sustaining the NHS for decades to come.

‘However, these ambitions have appeared in NHS plans for decades, so the question now is whether they will be backed up by the concrete policy changes and investment needed to turn them from rhetoric to reality.

“A clear delivery plan backed up by the right leadership and support will be needed. Otherwise, the critical benefits of AI and technology may not be realised.”

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive, The King’s Fund:

“While the possibilities of AI are exciting and present an opportunity to improve patient outcomes and staff experience, there is also an urgent need to get the basics right first. Much of the health service is plagued by basic IT woes and outdated equipment.

“The plan says that patient use of the NHS app and AI for staff will save billions by cutting paper and reducing human effort. The plan includes proposals for how technology will improve IT, so staff don’t have to spend half an hour trying to log on to their computers before they deliver clinical care.

“But historically announcements on NHS tech have been big on promise but lacking in delivery as money has been diverted to other areas.

“Strengthening the NHS app will help more people to manage their health better, but the NHS has been trying to embrace new technology for years and the clear lessons from the past are that the benefits of new technology will not be realised unless staff and patients are involved in design and implementation of how it is rolled out.”

Andrew New, chief executive, NHS Supply Chain:

“We welcome today’s government publication of the NHS 10 year health plan.

“As the NHS continues to evolve through its three strategic shifts – moving care closer to communities, embracing digital innovation, and focusing on prevention – NHS Supply Chain is strategically aligned with these national priorities and is playing a vital role in supporting this transformation.

“We’re actively expanding our capabilities to enable care outside of hospital settings. We’re streamlining digital processes and enabling remote diagnostics, which improve efficiency.

“Additionally, we are leveraging our data to support system-wide optimisation and enable remote monitoring solutions.”

Chris Fleming, partner and health sector lead, Public Digital:

“The government has rightly put digital at the heart of their plans to transform the NHS, with a series of bold and exciting plans for the NHS App and five big bets around the role of technology.

“This level of ambition and clarity of vision will be warmly welcomed by the NHS and industry.

“However, the NHS App does almost too good a job of masking the institutional and technological complexity that sits behind its services.

“Delivering these bold ambitions will require fundamental changes to NHS plumbing. To be successful, the government needs to focus as much on the ‘how’ as the ‘what’ of digital delivery.

“This means seeing digital as organisational and cultural transformation rather than simply buying or building technology; and taking an iterative, test-and-learn approach to delivering new services.”

Dr Rachael Grimaldi, co-founder and chief executive, CardMedic:

“It’s encouraging to see the new 10 year health plan has a focus on addressing health inequalities and bringing care closer to communities, but we need to think about whether it truly addresses fundamental communication barriers that still prevent effective patient care, particularly in urgent or unplanned situations.

“While increased investment is welcome, real transformation demands sustained commitment for innovative projects and clear accountability for funds, ensuring they don’t vanish into ‘black holes’ instead of driving crucial structural reform long term.”

Mark Hutchinson, senior vice president – healthcare strategy and transformation, Altera Digital Health:

“This plan must be the catalyst for change for long overdue digitisation. Because digital is the cornerstone in so many other areas of people’s lives, the public rightly assumes the NHS has strong digital foundations.

“It’s vital we bridge that gap between perception and reality to support an NHS that can keep pace with society and enable better outcomes for everyone.

“Altera will be putting all our efforts into supporting NHS providers to make the digital leap that is required with programmes that increase digital maturity, optimise systems, join up care with integrated data and implement tech at scale.”

Steve Wightman, managing director, Access Health and Integrated Care:

“The vision and ambition are what we’ve needed for a long time. The outstanding question of ‘how’ still remains.

“However, it’s good to see AI and AVT being championed – we’ve seen firsthand how the use of ethical AI and voice technology can supercharge staff productivity in primary and secondary care from the get-go.

“But for the move from bricks to clicks to be game-changing, we need more of an ‘all-in’ strategy, which advocates nimble digital ecosystems – rather than individual tech solutions or monolithic systems – that empower multi-disciplinary teams to communicate and work seamlessly together.

“By doing this, the NHS can achieve economies of scale and greater value at lower costs, all while working towards the ‘seismic shift’ to neighbourhood-based care.”

Tom Whicher, chief executive and founder, DrDoctor:

“The government’s plans to deliver more care to patients within the local community is spot on. But, what’s still not clear, is ‘how’ we’ll get there, where the staff will come from and how we’ll implement the technology needed to deliver, quickly and at scale.

“I’m hugely supportive of shifting more care out of hospitals and into local communities, to reduce the burden on our hospitals, and to put patients at the heart of the service.

“But, as the reshuffle of how and where care is delivered begins, the risk now is that we fall back on the idea that one big platform will fix everything. Tech alone won’t solve anything without the hard operational changes behind it.

“The best way to do that is to let local teams run with their own ideas and pace. Don’t dictate, enable providers to innovate.”

Ram Rajaraman, healthcare and life sciences industry lead, Quantexa:

“The government’s commitment to design and build a single patient record (SPR) as part of today’s NHS 10 year health plan is the right one. But a big question hangs over how we build it.

“Without open architecture and an ecosystem of interoperable vendors, the UK is at risk of creating a closed system which locks the NHS into a single supplier for years to come.

“We know that for the SPR to deliver true value, data provided by healthcare professionals and patients themselves will need to be unified wherever it is created across the NHS.

“Particularly when it comes to understanding community needs and managing care with the right resource allocation and access to the right records at the local (regional) level.

“Once this data is unified and it includes wider determinants of health such as environment and family socioeconomic history, the NHS will be able to implement a full 360-degree view on which to build or enable AI solutions that better improve population health, identify service gaps and allocate resources more effectively.”

Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, chief executive, Patients Know Best:

“Committing to a SPR within the NHS App is an ambitious move by the government, and it’s a good one. But, its true success hinges on delivering on the promise of citizen ownership. Healthcare extends far beyond the NHS, and all that broader information is crucial.

“Patients already bridge these information gaps themselves; formally putting them in control of their records is the critical ingredient for unlocking genuinely better care and a more effective NHS. Fail here, and we fail to learn from history.”

Darren Ransley, managing director UK and Ireland, Better:

“The 10 year plan offers a much-needed long-term vision, and we welcome its emphasis on digital transformation as a driver of sustainable, person-centred care.

“At the heart of this transformation must be the SPR – not just as a technical ambition, but as the grounds of truly joined-up care across the NHS.

“It will drive proactive, continuous care that empowers both patients and clinicians, as we have seen with the SPR implementations that we have supported across Greece, Malta, Slovenia, Catalonia, and London.

“With care plans, the NHS App, and other forms of digital tools, we can truly bring the patient into the centre of their care journey, but only if it is powered by a shared data backbone that supports real-time access, consent, and integration across care settings.”

Jane Rendall, UK and Ireland managing director, Sectra:

“Digital, community shift, prevention, waiting lists, and narrowing healthcare inequalities: headline items in the 10-year plan. Each policy requires diagnostic services – where an expansion of already widespread digitally-enabled reform could make a significant difference to realising NHS ambitions.

“£2.2bn has been pledged to tackle healthcare inequity, for example, but we need more than money to improve access to tests and scans for populations most-in-need. Expansion of community diagnostic centres provides people with choice on where to have their scan.

“But diagnosticians – radiologists and pathologists – must be able to report from anywhere to level the playing field on access to expertise, enable timely diagnosis and treatment, and support prevention.”

Steve Roest, chief executive and co-founder, PocDoc:

“As a pioneer in digital diagnostics, we welcome the government’s renewed commitment to delivering more care in communities and empowering patients through earlier, technology-enabled intervention.

“Today’s announcement rightly recognises that moving from reactive treatment to proactive, digitally driven prevention is not only vital to saving lives, but also essential to easing the burden on frontline NHS services.”