Catherine Davies
Director, Digital Healthcare Council
Ambitions for AI transformation across the NHS are bold and inspiring. Yet, translating these into everyday clinical practice presents unique challenges.
The Digital Healthcare Council’s members witness this gap daily, working to align innovative AI solutions with real NHS needs. Strategic partnerships between government, health systems and innovators are essential for meaningful progress.
The current policy-deployment divide
To deliver the Government’s ambition for the NHS, we need to remove the barriers innovative companies encounter when deploying solutions. Complex procurement, fragmented decision-making and misaligned incentives create frustration for both innovative providers and NHS trusts.
Our members report that NHS clinicians want AI tools that demonstrably improve patient outcomes, yet systemic challenges often prevent adoption. Valuable AI solutions with proven benefits await broader deployment, while NHS teams continue managing workloads that technology could help streamline.
The Government and NHS must
create clearer pathways for AI adoption.
Opportunities for innovation through partnership
Real-world applications demonstrate AI’s transformative potential when properly implemented. HealthNet Homecare’s Adhere Predict platform achieves 97.89% accuracy in predicting medication non-adherence, enabling proactive interventions that prevent hospital readmissions.
Holly Health’s AI-powered Prevent app delivers personalised multimorbidity management, achieving 22% increased patient wellbeing and 33% reduced GP consultations. Livi has reduced administrative burden by 40% through AI transcription of 18,000 weekly appointments while generating coding suggestions to streamline workflows.
Cemplicity’s AI-driven platform provides real-time analytics, transforming patient-reported data into actionable insights that improve care delivery. Lilli’s proactive home monitoring technology enables early intervention and crisis prevention, helping to detect conditions early and accelerating hospital discharge by 16 days on average.
These solutions address genuine NHS challenges while supporting government objectives around efficiency, access and outcomes.
Strategic recommendations
The Government and NHS must create clearer pathways for AI adoption, including streamlined procurement and standardised evaluation criteria. NHS trusts need dedicated support to assess and implement AI solutions effectively.
Funding models should reflect AI’s long-term value rather than requiring immediate returns. Successful partnerships focus on achievable improvements that build trust.The Digital Healthcare Council is here to facilitate meaningful collaboration between the Government, the NHS and innovative companies. When we work together, we can deploy AI to deliver exceptional patient care while creating an NHS that’s fit for the future.
