Digital Health Unplugged

This episode of Digital Health Unplugged, brought to you in partnership with Philips, explores how innovative financing models could help NHS trusts modernise services while improving productivity and patient care. Jordan Sollof, reporter at Digital Health News, is joined by Stephen McMillan, strategic partnerships leader at Philips, to discuss the limitations of traditional capital procurement. McMillan explains how alternative approaches, including pay-per-use models and managed services, can enable trusts to spread costs and focus on longer-term clinical and operational outcomes. He shares an example from Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, where a pay-per-use arrangement enabled investment in an interventional radiology suite without a large upfront capital commitment. The conversation also explores the importance of implementation, staff training and change management in ensuring technology delivers measurable benefits, as well as the need for transparency and shared accountability between NHS organisations and suppliers. Turning to AI, McMillan argues that NHS leaders should not have to choose between strengthening their digital infrastructure and investing in AI, provided new solutions are clinically proven, appropriately regulated and supported by robust governance. The episode concludes by examining how relationships between the NHS and technology suppliers could evolve beyond one-off purchases towards long-term partnerships focused on sustainable service improvement. Digital Health would like to thank its partner, Philips, for this episode. Guest: Stephen McMillan, strategic partnerships leader at Philips  

Karen Jewell, chief midwifery officer in the Welsh government, joins Digital Health Unplugged to discuss the rollout of a single digital maternity record across Wales and the lessons for the wider NHS. Wales has become the first UK nation to introduce a single digital maternity record across all seven health boards to improve how maternity information is recorded and shared between services. In this episode, Jewell joins Jordan Sollof, reporter at Digital Health News, to discuss the Digital Maternity Cymru programme and the challenges of delivering a national digital maternity record. Jewell explains how the programme aims to address longstanding problems caused by fragmented systems, inconsistent data and poor communication between services. She also discusses how Wales delivered the rollout, with five health boards going live within approximately six weeks, and the role of clinical engagement, early adopters and digital midwives in supporting implementation. Looking ahead, Jewell discusses plans to extend the digital record into neonatal and early pregnancy services, and how better data could help improve maternity outcomes and experiences. With England working towards its own single patient record, the conversation also considers what other parts of the NHS can learn from Wales' experience of delivering digital transformation nationally. Guest: Karen Jewell, chief midwifery officer in the Welsh government  

The latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged explores how technology alone is not enough to deliver the productivity gains needed across the NHS. Host Jordan Sollof is joined by Tera Allas, co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission, which was launched by the Health Foundation think tank in May 2025 to identify solutions that can support productivity growth in the NHS in England. The podcast follows the publication of the commission's final report, which states that improving productivity through better use of technology, the workforce and capital could save the NHS in England up to £33 billion a year by 2040, while preventing up to 20,600 deaths annually. In the episode, Allas explains how the commission arrived at those findings and discusses why a major challenge facing the NHS is no longer identifying promising technologies but adopting and scaling them consistently across the health service. The conversation explores whether decades of promises around digital transformation can finally be realised, where AI has the greatest potential to improve care and productivity, and why technology alone will not be enough without changes to leadership, incentives and the way NHS organisations operate. Allas also reflects on the balance between saving money and freeing up staff time, the disruption that inevitably comes with implementing new digital systems, and what success would look like in five years if the NHS had achieved meaningful productivity improvements through technology. Guest: Tera Allas, co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission  

Digital Health Unplugged returns as host Jordan Sollof is joined by Lawrence Tallon, chief executive at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), to discuss the newly published blueprint for regulating AI in healthcare. The National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare published its recommendations today (10 September), setting out how the UK can give patients faster, safer access to AI in their care. Tallon discusses some of the key recommendations and what they could mean for patients, clinicians and developers of AI-enabled medical devices. Among the proposals is a staged, “L-plates” style approach to authorising new AI models, designed to enable promising technologies to reach patients more quickly while evidence about their safety and effectiveness continues to develop. Sollof asks Tallon how the proposed system would work and, crucially, how regulators could ensure that speeding up access does not expose patients to greater risk. The discussion also explores the commission’s call for continuous, real-world monitoring of AI-enabled medical devices throughout their working lives, including who would be responsible for monitoring systems once they are deployed and why a single point of approval may no longer be sufficient for AI technologies that can change over time. Tallon is questioned on proposals to make safety information about individual AI-enabled medical devices easier to access, whether patients should be told every time AI is involved in their care and what happens if someone does not want an AI system to be used. The episode also tackles one of the biggest questions surrounding the growing use of healthcare AI: who is accountable when something goes wrong? Sollof then asks what stronger powers proposed for the MHRA could allow the regulator to do when an AI system falls short of expected standards, and whether the commission’s recommendations could address concerns about AI scribes and ambient voice technology after reports of errors appearing in patients’ medical records. Guest: Lawrence Tallon, chief executive, the MHRA  

In the latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged, host Jordan Sollof is joined at NHS ConfedExpo 2026 by Dr Peter Thomas and Kate Warriner for a deep dive into the proposed NHS single patient record (SPR). The government’s NHS Modernisation Bill includes a requirement for all NHS providers to share patient data to create a SPR, which it says will help join up fragmented health information and improve access to patient records across care settings. Dr Thomas, director of digital development and consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Warriner, chief transformation and digital officer at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, discuss how a SPR could help both clinicians and patients. With concerns around the legislation forcing providers to share patient data, the pair explain how the NHS should balance easier access to information with patients’ expectations around consent and control, before stressing the importance of leadership and governance to the success of the SPR. Finally, the guests highlight the technical barriers that still need to be overcome before a SPR can be created and set out what needs to have happened for the SPR programme to be considered a success five years from now. Guests: Dr Peter Thomas, director of digital development and consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Kate Warriner, chief transformation and digital officer at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust  

Host Jordan Sollof is joined in the latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged by Alcidion’s Paul Deffley and Tracy McClelland to discuss patient flow and why getting it right is essential for safety, efficiency and patient experience. Deffley, UK managing director and chief medical officer, and McClelland, chief clinical information officer at Alcidion, discuss the firm’s new handbook on improving patient flow across healthcare systems. They also highlight a real-world example of patient flow at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The discussion then turns to the the key findings and recommendations in the Public Policy Projects report on bed management and patient flow that Alcidion were involved in. Lastly, the pair give their best tips for hospital leaders wanting to improve flow starting tomorrow, before discussing the other developments planned for 2026 for Alcidion. Guests: Paul Deffley, UK managing director and chief medical officer at Alcidion Tracy McClelland, chief clinical information officer at Alcidion  

Winning the Rewired Pitchfest 2026 competition has put women’s health in the spotlight, but Daye’s founder Valentina Milanova tells Digital Health Unplugged that the UK is still "falling behind" on care, research and investment. In the latest podcast episode, Tammy Lovell, editor at Digital Health News, speaks to Milanova about the urgent need to rethink women’s health and why progress has been slower than it should be. They explore the ongoing challenges, from stigma and funding gaps to delays in diagnosis and access to care, and what needs to change to better support patients. At the centre of the conversation is Daye’s flagship innovation: a diagnostic tampon designed for at-home HPV testing, which offers a new approach to cervical cancer screening aimed at improving accessibility for patients while easing pressure on NHS services. Milanova also reflects on the wider issues shaping women’s health - from the legacy of women being excluded from clinical trials until the 1990s to the reality that many women still wait years for a diagnosis. Listen to the full episode to hear why she believes the UK has the tools to tackle one of the most preventable cancers, but isn’t moving fast enough. Guest: Valentina Milanova, founder and chief executive of Daye  

This special report from Digital Health Unplugged explores whether the NHS’s shift to digital is improving access to healthcare or creating new barriers. The government’s 10 year health plan sets out a move towards a ‘digital by default’ service, with the NHS App as the system’s ‘front door’ and an ‘online hospital’ planned to help reduce elective wait lists. Proponents argue this transformation will expand access and free up capacity for those who need it most, but is that promise being realised in practice or does it risk becoming a barrier for the most vulnerable members of society? You can read the full transcript of this episode here. Music and sound design: Matt Hill Audio Guests: Rosemary Hill, patient Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK Pritesh Mistry, fellow in digital technologies  at The King’s Fund Lee Rickles, chief information officer at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust Elizabeth Anderson, chief executive at Digital Poverty Alliance Owen Chinembiri, assistant director – workforce, at the NHS Race and Health Observatory Rachel Power – chief executive at The Patients Association Katie Heard, head of research and data insight at Good Things Foundation Thomas Porteus, chair of Out Together Deborah Rozansky, director of policy, research and innovation at the Social Care Institute for Excellence  

This episode of Digital Health Unplugged, recorded on day two of Rewired 2026, focuses on rolling out the federated data platform (FDP) and ambient voice technology (AVT) at scale in Leicester and Northamptonshire. Host Jordan Sollof is joined by Will Monaghan, group chief digital information officer (CDIO) at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group (UHN). Monaghan discusses being the first organisation to roll out the FDP at scale and the key benefits seen so far, whilst also addressing the controversy around US supplier Palantir and making it clear that the platform is not for everyone. He also discusses the recent roll out of a large ambient AI contract from Accurx across UHL and UHN and how it is benefitting staff and patients before highlighting the benefits of being a part of the European Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network (TRAIN). The group CDIO then gives his thoughts on whether it is a realistic ambition for the NHS 10 year health plan to put a lot of faith in digital to increase frontline productivity and outlines the key digital goals for UHN and UHL over the coming months. Guest: Will Monaghan, group CDIO at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group  

This podcast episode recorded at day one of Digital Health Rewired 2026 explores how technology and data can help deliver neighbourhood health. The NHS 10 year health plan includes the creation of a Neighbourhood Health Service, which aims to bring care closer to home and reduce healthcare inequalities. Neighbourhood health teams will bring together multi-disciplinary professionals to focus on patients with multiple long-term conditions and people with complex needs. In this episode of Digital Health Unplugged, host Jordan Sollof discusses the new service with Ben Hampshire, regional director at Optum, and Dr Rowan Sil, chief clinical information officer (CCIO) at Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care System (ICS). Hampshire highlights the digital capabilities required to make the neighbourhood health model work effectively, including the use of data for population health management, tools to support elective recovery, and technologies that help patients to ‘wait well’. Dr Sil discusses the importance of equipping clinicians with joined-up systems and the role of digital in connecting voluntary and community organisations into neighbourhood care pathways. They also examine the importance of ensuring that underserved populations are not excluded from digitally enabled neighbourhood care and share some real-world examples of where neighbourhood working is already making a difference. Guests: Ben Hampshire, regional director at Optum Dr Rowan Sil, CCIO at Leicester, Leicester and Rutland ICS