From Analogue to Digital: How industry can help deliver the NHS 10-Year Health Plan

The NHS has set the direction, now industry must help deliver it

Built around three shifts, hospital to community, analogue to digital, and treatment to prevention, the NHS 10-Year Health Plan sets out a clear direction of travel for the future of health and care.

At techUK’s discussion, Analogue to Digital: How Industry Can Deliver, panellists agreed that digital is the foundational shift that enables the other two transformations.

Importantly, the conversation was not about what the NHS should do next strategically. The Plan, priorities and ambitions have already been articulated. Instead, the focus was on delivery: how industry can work alongside the NHS to provide the technologies, expertise and innovation needed to turn those ambitions into reality at scale.

On the panel were representatives from industry, policy and the NHS including:

• Shane Tickell, CEO, Temple Black Health Tech Consulting and Quantum Health Technologies
• Lauren Bevan, Head of Health Innovation and Strategy, Capgemini
• Dr Charlotte Refsum, Director for Health Policy, Tony Blair Institute
• Karen Craddock, Principal Product Manager, Hippo Digital
• Sally Rennison, Chief Commercial Officer, Patients Know Best

They discussed what is already working, what barriers remain, and what needs to change to turn ambition into reality.

Why are we building a Single Patient Record?

Much of the discussion centred on the proposed Single Patient Record (SPR), with panellists urging people not to focus on the technology but to think about the purpose behind it.

The recurring question was: What problem are we actually trying to solve?

While the NHS has made significant progress in its shift from analogue records to digital health systems, patient information can still be fragmented across multiple organisations and platforms, making truly joined-up care more difficult to achieve.

A number of speakers argued that the real value of a SPR is not necessarily creating an exhaustive repository of health information. Instead, the goal should be to ensure information is available digitally in one place and can be navigated easily by both patients and healthcare professionals.

Digitisation, the panel agreed, must come first. More advanced capabilities such as artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and personalised interventions can only be realised once the foundations are in place.

Looking beyond the NHS

Several speakers highlighted that healthcare does not operate in isolation. Factors such as housing, education and social circumstances all have a significant impact on health outcomes and wellbeing. If the NHS is serious about prevention, then future approaches to data sharing and digital infrastructure may need to extend beyond traditional healthcare records.

There was also discussion about the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Increasing numbers of people are seeking health information through tools such as ChatGPT, online pharmacies and private healthcare providers. Technologies outside the NHS ecosystem are already shaping how people engage with healthcare, raising important questions about how these services could interact with future NHS digital infrastructure.

Wearable devices and home-monitoring technologies were another area of interest. Large volumes of valuable health data are being generated outside traditional healthcare settings, yet much of it remains disconnected from mainstream care pathways.

Bringing patients with us

A strong theme throughout the session was the need to involve patients more closely in the journey towards a digital health service.

Several panellists discussed whether patients currently feel ownership of the Single Patient Record agenda. For digital transformation to succeed, patients need to understand how their data is being used, the benefits it can deliver and the controls in place to protect privacy.

Transparency, communication and trust were recurring themes. The panel suggested that patients should see and benefit from their own data before discussions move towards broader sharing and wider system use.

The conversation also highlighted the importance of designing services that work for everyone. While digital technologies can increase access and convenience, there remains a risk of exclusion if services assume everyone has a smartphone or is digitally confident.

Recent figures indicate that around 4% of people in the UK do not use a mobile phone, underlining the need to maintain alternative routes into care and avoid excluding sections of the population.

From infrastructure to outcomes

The discussion also highlighted the importance of defining success from the outset. While much attention has been given to the technical challenge of delivering a SPR, panellists argued that implementation must be accompanied by clear outcomes, milestones and accountability.

Several speakers noted that the NHS has launched ambitious digital programmes before, but too often the focus has been on delivery of the technology itself rather than demonstrating the benefits it creates. Success, they argued, should be measured through improved patient experience, better access to services, more proactive care, reduced duplication and stronger support for prevention.

The panel called for greater transparency around delivery roadmaps, governance arrangements and implementation frameworks, alongside a clearer articulation of how progress will be tracked and reported. Without that clarity, there is a risk that conversations become centred on technical infrastructure rather than whether digital transformation is genuinely improving people’s health and wellbeing.

Industry’s role in delivering the 10-Year Health Plan

During the summit, techUK announced the publication of its new report, From Analogue to Digital: How the UK Tech Sector Can Deliver the 10-Year Health Plan.

The report argues that the technology needed to support the NHS’s transformation already exists and is delivering measurable benefits across health and care services. However, it notes that these technologies are “not truly being adopted at scale, coherently or in a coordinated way”.

The challenge, therefore, is not a lack of vision from the NHS, nor a lack of available technology. The strategic direction has been set and many of the building blocks already exist. The challenge is delivering this transformation consistently, at pace and at scale.

According to the report, the technology sector is already helping to improve access to care, increase productivity, strengthen clinical safety, support prevention and early intervention, empower patients, enable better data sharing and interoperability, and deliver more care in people’s homes and communities. It highlights examples across areas such as virtual care, remote monitoring, AI-assisted decision support, patient self-management tools and integrated data platforms.

The report also makes several recommendations to help proven innovations move from isolated projects into routine care. These include adopting more outcomes-based approaches to evaluating technology, creating clearer assurance processes for AI-enabled tools, providing sustained funding for proven digital infrastructure, and establishing commissioning routes that allow successful innovations to be adopted at scale across the NHS.

For innovators, this presents a significant opportunity. The NHS has clearly signalled the outcomes it wants to achieve through the 10-Year Health Plan. The next phase will depend on industry bringing forward proven technologies, implementation expertise and evidence of impact that can help health and care services achieve those goals.

Innovators who can evidence outcomes, work with NHS partners to generate robust data and align their solutions to these system challenges will be well placed to contribute to the next phase of digital transformation.

A clear message from both the Summit and the report was that the NHS has largely done the hard work of defining the vision. The priorities are clear, the policy direction is established and the need for change is widely understood. The challenge now is delivery.

Industry has a critical role to play in helping health and care systems implement proven innovations, scale what works and translate the ambitions of the 10-Year Health Plan into tangible improvements for patients, staff and communities.

Read techUK’s report: From Analogue to Digital: How the UK Tech Sector Can Deliver the 10-Year Health Plan.