Digital Health Unplugged

Leeds CDIO: Digital isn't a silver bullet for efficiency

In the latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged, Paul Jones, chief digital information officer (CDIO) at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, delves into the details of the 10 year health plan.

In conversation with Jordan Sollof, podcast host, Jones discusses the digital ambitions in the government's 10 year plan and why they should not be treated as "a silver bullet" for efficiency.

He also shares his views on plans for the single patient record, the federated data platform, and the use of AI in the NHS, before sharing the technology he's most excited about at Leeds.

Jones also discusses the independent inquiry into repeated maternity failings at Leeds Teaching Hospitals and explains what the trust is doing to improve the service and how digital can support.

Finally, he looks ahead to speaking at Digital Health Rewired 2026, which takes place at the Birmingham NEC on 24-25 March, and gives listeners a taste of what he'll be talking about at the event.

Guest:

Paul Jones, CDIO at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

 

What NHS trusts get wrong in EPR rollouts

In the first episode Digital Health Unplugged episode of the year, Beverley Bryant, chief digital officer (CDO) across three trusts in Dorset, reflects on her involvement in a national rapid review of electronic patient record (EPR) programmes across acute NHS trusts.

Bryant, who is CDO at University Hospitals Dorset, Dorset County Hospital and Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trusts,  joins Unplugged host Jordan Sollof to discuss the challenges organisations face at different stages of EPR implementation, and the considerations NHS leaders need to weigh as they move from planning to go-live and beyond.

She shares how those insights are informing Dorset’s own EPR programme, as part of a county-wide digital strategy.

The conversation goes on to explore the realities of AI adoption in healthcare, lessons learned from the Synnovis cyber attack, the balance between national digital priorities and local delivery, and why digital transformation needs to be owned beyond IT teams.

Bryant also looks ahead to speaking at Digital Health Rewired 2026, which takes place at the Birmingham NEC on 24-25 March, where she will be joined on stage by Siobhan Harrington, chief executive at University Hospitals Dorset. Register here.

Guest:

Beverley Bryant, chief digital officer for Dorset Providers - University Hospitals Dorset, Dorset County Hospital and Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trusts

 

Why the NHS needs a single patient record to prepare for the AI era

In this episode of Digital Health Unplugged, Charlotte Refsum, director of health policy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, explains why a single patient record is becoming increasingly important in the age of AI.

Refsum tells Tammy Lovell, editor at Digital Health News, that as AI, data and digital technologies begin to reshape health systems, data unification is critical to support safer care, new models of delivery and a fundamentally different way of running the NHS.

Drawing on her experience from the UK and health systems around the world, Refsum reflects on how digital could enable more integrated and preventative care, empower people to better manage their own health, and change the way patients interact with services through tools such as the NHS App.

The conversation also explores the challenges standing in the way of this vision, including data sharing, public trust, interoperability and legacy systems, as well as discussing what to expect from the NHS 10 year health plan.

Refsum will be delivering a keynote at Digital Health Rewired, to give her views on what comes next in the NHS’s shift to digitisation and prevention.

The event is taking place at the Birmingham NEC on 24-25 March 2026. Free for NHS, public sector, charities, research and education. Commercial tickets start from £769+VAT. Register here.

Guest:

Charlotte Refsum, director of health policy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

 

Exploring the interoperability conundrum

The latest episode of Unplugged, in partnership with BridgeHead Software, explores why the NHS must move beyond ‘analogue to digital’ to ‘digitalised’.

Digital Health Unplugged host Jordan Sollof is joined by Adam Coombes, product owner, HealthStore at BridgeHead Software, and Andy Meiner, founder of SI Squared, to examine the hidden barriers to interoperability.

The pair argue that data only becomes useful when enriched with structure, standards and metadata, before discussing why paper is still so deeply embedded in NHS workflows.

They then outline the practical strategies organisations can use to unify and operationalise their data to help deliver the ambitions of the NHS 10 year health plan.

Lastly, Coombes and Meiner offer one mindset shift and one practical step that chief information officers and chief clinical information officers should take to move towards true digitalisation.

Guest:

Adam Coombes, product owner, HealthStore at BridgeHead Software

Andy Meiner, founder of SI Squared

 

Building Epic: Judy Faulkner on leadership

In this episode of Digital Health Unplugged, Judy Faulkner, founder and chief executive of Epic Systems, shares her journey from maths puzzles and early programming to building one of the world’s most widely-adopted electronic patient record (EPR) systems.

Speaking to Tammy Lovell, editor at Digital Health, Faulkner reflects on how she started Epic in a basement in 1979 with a handful of programmers, with the company valued at $70,000.

The US software giant has grown into the largest EPR vendor by market share, with its revenue estimated $5.7bn in 2024. 

Epic's revenue is now an estimated $5.7bn in 2024, with the firm covering more than half of hospital patients in the US.

It also recorded the biggest gain in the UK's EPR market between January 2024 and March 2025, now holding around 10% of the NHS acute trust market.

Faulkner, who owns 43% of the firm, discusses her decision to remain privately held and mission-driven rather than answer to shareholders, and explains how her mother’s advice continues to influence her leadership.

The conversation also explores Epic’s immersive approach to product development, how AI is being embedded across the system, and Faulkner's vision for a more preventive, accessible healthcare system.

Epic will be at Digital Health Rewired, which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham on 24th-25th March 2026. Register here.

Guest:

Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO, Epic Systems 

The case for NHS-owned, open software

In the latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged, Marcus Baw calls for a rethink of NHS technology strategy, arguing that the service has drifted away from open source and in-house capability.

Baw, a GP, clinical safety officer, clinical informatician and software engineer, criticises NHS England’s quiet removal of its open source policy webpages, dismissing the explanation that this was part of a routine website clean-up and that the NHS is now following government service standards.

He also makes a strong case for in-sourcing software development, claiming that outsourcing increases costs and weakens the NHS’s technical capability.

Baw also tells host Jordan Sollof, that the federated data platform is not delivering against its original ambitions and while adoption is growing, and expressed scepticism that changes at the top of NHS England would automatically lead to reform.

Looking ahead, he says the NHS should consider building its own cloud infrastructure through NHS-based data centres to reduce reliance on commercial providers, lower compliance burdens and reuse waste heat to power hospital estates.

Guest:

Marcus Baw, GP, clinical safety officer, clinical informatician, and software engineer

 

Why NHS innovation stalls

The latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged explores what it takes to successfully scale innovation in the NHS and why so many startups fail.

Unplugged host Jordan Sollof is joined by Mindy Simon, co-director of the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), an initiative to support promising health innovations to spread across the NHS, and NIA alumni Elina Naydenova, co-founder and chief executive of HealthTech startup Feebris,

They share insights on how to move digital health solutions from pilot to system-wide adoption, including the single most important factor in determining whether an innovation will scale.

Drawing on Feebris’ experience delivering AI-enabled virtual care across more than 250 sites, Naydenova describes her journey in the NHS as a startup founder, including an example where a procurement process took 13 months, while full deployment across multiple hospitals and clinical pathways took just six weeks.

The NIA will launch its latest cohort of fellows at Digital Health Rewired 2026, showcasing new health technologies and featuring 24 quick-fire pitches from the new fellows.

Rewired 2026 takes place on 24-25 March at the NEC Birmingham. Register here.

Guests:

Mindy Simon, co-director at the NHS Innovation Accelerator

Elina Naydenova, co-founder and chief executive of Feebris

 

How digital enables neighbourhood health

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

 

Rolling out the FDP and AVT at scale

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

 

The Forgotten Patients: Is the digital NHS leaving people behind?

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