On 3rd July 2025, the UK Government announced the launch of the 10 Year Plan for the NHS. The plan sets out how the government aims to ‘reinvent’ the health service into one that is ‘fit for the future’ through ‘radical change.’
Med-Tech Insights heard from experts from across the UK MedTech and Healthcare industry with their thoughts on the plan:
Chris Whitehouse, Director of Health and MedTech policy at Whitehouse Communications, and MedTech Insights columnist said: “Long-awaited, much-hyped, and containing many previously-announced priorities and commitments, the Plan nevertheless sets out a clear commitment to encouraging the rapid adoption and roll-out across the NHS of innovative and effective MedTech, including wearables, digital and AI; and there’s an admission that NHS procurement policies have got things badly wrong in the past by an obsession with price, rather than best-value and outcomes.
“The Plan heralds a forthcoming review of MedTech regulation and signposts an expansion of the role of NICE in MedTech appraisal, both projects with which the sector must engage, to ensure that evidential thresholds are proportionate and practical, particularly when it comes to real world case studies and data. The Devil may yet prove to be in the future detail.”
Flann Horgan, Head of Healthcare Sector at NTT DATA UK & Ireland said: “You can’t build a digital NHS on analogue infrastructure. The government knows this and understands it will only be able to drive long-term efficiency in the NHS through investments in technology to modernise healthcare. The 10-year plan for the NHS sets out a clear direction for this: move from analogue to digital, modernise infrastructure, and harness technology to deliver better care at lower cost. To get a return on the investment announced today, the government is looking to make digital the default across the NHS and not the exception.
“AI will be key to this, but it won’t be an easy feat to scale across the NHS without tackling siloed data and outdated systems. At The Royal Marsden, we’ve seen this at work: AI tools being deployed to help radiologists diagnose and monitor cancer progression with greater accuracy and speed. This can be delivered, within real-world NHS constraints – when the right technical and clinical foundations were in place.
“Without these, AI risks becoming just another layer of complexity rather than a tool that genuinely improves care. Fortunately, the NHS Federated Data Platform is laying the groundwork for more intelligent, system-wide decisions. Meanwhile, the proposed £600 million investment from Keir Starmer and the Wellcome Trust in a National Health Data Research Service shows clear momentum for clinical research infrastructure. The challenge now is turning that momentum into meaningful change, so every trust can benefit from the same tools already transforming care in places like The Royal Marsden.”
Mark Leftwich, Managing Director, Philips UK and Ireland said: “In the next ten years, we will see 16 million people in the UK over the age of 65. This is a huge jump, and it’s clear that the UK healthcare system must be ready to meet their needs. The 10-Year Health Plan is the most important we’ve seen so far. We can’t afford to get it wrong. It’s time to act decisively and make sure we’re prepared for the future.
“To transform healthcare, we need technology at the heart of it, but people must stay at the centre of every decision. We need to focus on three key changes: how we innovate, where we deliver care, and how we fund it. Tools like artificial intelligence can help doctors and nurses make better decisions, work more efficiently, and provide faster care. But we have to move quickly to put these tools to work.
“We’re already seeing the difference technology can make. The results of our recent breakthrough pilot, with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, showed how Community Diagnostic Centre’s could support thousands more NHS patients to get diagnosed each year through late-night MRI scanning. The pilot – a first of its kind – could be the solution the NHS needs to drastically cut waitlists and allow more patients to get diagnosed without adding pressure on hospitals. It’s proof that these ideas work. Now, we need to invest more in digital tools and support to roll out these solutions everywhere. If we act now, we can make healthcare faster, better, and truly ready for the challenges ahead.”
Pierre Socha, Partner at Amadeus Capital Partners said: “The NHS’s commitment to whole genome sequencing and expanding access to clinical trials is a bold and welcome step toward a more predictive, personalised healthcare system. We’ve long believed that AI-driven diagnostics are foundational to the future of medicine. By embedding these technologies into national infrastructure, the UK is not only improving patient outcomes but also reinforcing its position as a global leader in life sciences innovation.
“The integration of genomic data into routine care, combined with streamlined access to clinical trials via the NHS App, has the potential to accelerate drug development, reduce health inequalities, and unlock new models of preventative care. It’s encouraging to see the NHS take such a forward-thinking stance, and we look forward to supporting the ecosystem of startups and researchers that will help bring this vision to life.”
Pamela Healy OBE, Chief Executive at the British Liver Trust said: “90% of liver disease is preventable, so the British Liver Trust welcomes the Government’s focus on prevention in the new 10-year plan. However, while the announcement of a new healthy food standard in partnership with industry is a positive move to address the obesity crisis, a major cause of fatty liver disease; we are concerned that there may not be enough in today’s Plan to move from sickness to prevention and effectively address alcohol harm in our society.
“Alcohol-specific deaths have continued to surge in the UK with over 10,000 people dying from alcohol-related causes in 2022. Three quarters of these deaths are attributed to alcohol-related liver disease, an alarming 31% increase in just three years. Alcohol has become increasingly affordable, acceptable, and readily available within our society.
“If the Government is serious about prevention, then we need a national strategy to address alcohol harm. This should include measures such as advertising restrictions, fiscal measures to address affordability and early identification and support for people who are drinking above the recommended guidelines.
“We are delighted that the Government has set out a comprehensive plan to deliver a full range of community Neighbourhood Health Services and Centres to people’s doorsteps – supporting early detection of illness and reducing pressure on GPs and A&E. This has the potential to better support the needs and lives of both liver disease patients and liver cancer patients. Three quarters of people with liver disease are diagnosed too late in a hospital setting, so this plan to move services from hospital to community should support earlier diagnosis and intervention and therefore is welcomed.”
Ian Burgess, CTO at Canary Care said: “We welcome the government’s 10-Year Health Plan with its renewed focus on in-home care, prioritising technology in both health and social care, and finally recognising the crucial contribution of unpaid carers.
“The government’s commitment to provide a personal care plan for 95% of people with complex needs is a vital step towards patient-centric care. However, we cannot ignore the fact that talk of innovation and digital transformation must be matched by real, practical action. If the government is truly committed to supporting people, especially those living alone or with complex needs, then social care technology must be at the core of delivery, not sitting on the sidelines.
“Currently, too many local authorities and NHS teams are still struggling to access and implement the technology that makes a difference. Ambitious targets for personal care plans and digital access are only meaningful when backed by proper funding, workforce training, and a willingness to drive real change at pace. We need a joined up approach to technology in social care – which all too often falls down the gaps in funding between secondary, social and local authority expenditure.
“We call on ministers to be even more ambitious. Social care technology, including remote monitoring and telecare, is already proven to reduce hospital admissions and support carers, yet scaling up these solutions needs more than just streamlined procurement. We need clear national standards, sustained investment in digital infrastructure for social care, strong leadership and a joined-up approach that truly puts the needs of vulnerable people and their families at the centre. Ensuring digital solutions are accessible and widely adopted is key. With the right policy support and funding, we can transform the future of care delivery, and the wellbeing of millions who depend on it, and ensure everyone is well supported, wherever they call home”
Steve Roest, CEO and co-founder of PocDoc said: “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.
“The government’s three major shifts – from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention -represent the right strategic direction, and PocDoc is already delivering on all three. Our digital Healthy Heart Check enables cardiovascular screening to take place anywhere, outside of traditional clinical settings. We’ve digitised the entire pathway, enabling much earlier identification of people at risk of chronic disease and ensuring they’re quickly connected to follow-on care.
“According to NHS research, every digital health check could free up to 20 minutes of GP time, significantly reduce pressure on primary care, and deliver cost savings worth billions. Crucially, it could also help prevent up to 1 million heart attacks and strokes annually.
“Our digital platform is already being deployed by forward-thinking NHS regions, including the North East and North Cumbria, where it is helping to reach people in the communities that need it most. By scaling these innovations across the NHS, we have a real opportunity to tackle health inequalities and make earlier, life-saving intervention the standard – not the exception.”
Dame Barbara Hakin, Chair of the Health Tech Alliance and former Deputy Chief Executive of NHSE, said: “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.
“The rules-based pathway represents a significant shift towards a more predictable and transparent process for the evaluation, funding, and commissioning of medical technologies. This alignment, bringing parity for med tech with medicines, is crucial for addressing urgent healthcare needs and reducing variability in patient access to innovative treatments.
“The Plan includes some critical steps that have the potential to accelerate safe, effective health tech into frontline care, remove unnecessary barriers for innovators, and ultimately deliver better outcomes for patients.
“Turning this vision into reality will require close collaboration between policymakers, the NHS, and the health tech sector. We look forward to working together to ensure these ambitious plans translate into tangible progress for patients and industry alike.”
Kevin Joshua, Clinical Lead at Juniper said: “I welcome the holistic approach the Government has taken to address rates of obesity in the UK with the measures announced in the 10 Year Health Plan. At Juniper we have always prioritised wrap-around care, focusing on delivering clear information and lifestyle advice to our patients from the very start of their treatment journey and at every stage thereafter.
“As a recent report by NESTA this week outlined, the total impact of obesity and excess weight on the economy and wider society in the UK is equivalent to £126 billion. It is therefore crucial that tackling obesity nationwide is a public health priority.
“The plan’s ultimate objective of increasing access to weight loss medication is a positive development. Currently, the rollout of Mounjaro through primary care only applies to a small, defined cohort of patients, meaning the vast majority of people living with obesity are still shut out of treatment, regardless of medical need. But as the 10-Year Health Plan demonstrates, obesity urgently requires widespread solutions given the existing rates nationwide.
“It is excellent to see that the Government recognises the vital role digital healthcare can play in weight management, with a commitment to double the number of patients referred to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme. Digitally-delivered healthcare is integral to a sustainable obesity management model, bridging the gap between patients and healthcare providers at scale. Private providers like Juniper provide ongoing digital support alongside medication, including titration and monitoring as well as access to peer support. Healthcare teams require the reassurance and resources to utilise digital tools effectively, including from private providers outside of the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme, in order to deliver tailored weight management services and medications.
“Finally, the introduction of a ‘healthy food standard’ marks a comprehensive approach to public health. The success of this initiative is yet to be seen, but aligns with Juniper’s mission to provide holistic weight management support, with healthy food choices a central element.
“Obesity is a public health challenge and has long been misunderstood. I am glad to see the government acknowledge that it requires a mix of pharmaceutical, behavioural, community and digital interventions.”
Helen Rowntree, Chief Executive of Blood Cancer UK said: “We welcome the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan and recognition that strategic change is needed to address the challenges facing the NHS.
“We’re all aware of the widespread issues in the health service that impact patients across all diseases. But for blood cancers in particular, the UK is falling behind the international standard in many and often in very basic ways such as staffing levels, availability of new drugs and opening of new clinical trials. Change is needed and we support this first step.
“People with blood cancer have told us they want to access care closer to home. So, we welcome a Neighbourhood Health Service that can provide this where it is appropriate. However, it is important to recognise that blood cancers require extremely specialised hospital care and the NHS must support all patients, wherever they live, to access this.
“We must also ensure good communication throughout, and that primary and specialist care is effectively coordinated.
“This Government has talked ambitiously, but further details are needed. We look forward to hearing more about the ideas being prepared through the NHS Workforce Plan, National Cancer Plan for England and other strategies, through which we will continue to campaign on behalf of all those with blood cancer.”
Dr Anas Nader, A&E doctor and now CEO of Patchwork Health said: “While ‘doctors in pockets’ and AI diagnostics will grab the headlines, the behind the scenes transformation this plan promises to deliver is just as important. If we are serious about building an NHS ‘fit for the future,’ we urgently need to find ways to maximise operational efficiency and implement new solutions to address age-old problems like staffing and service planning.
“That’s why I’m especially pleased to see leaders commit to harnessing digital tools that free up staff time and streamline laborious admin, as well as the focus on offering greater flexibility for clinicians. The test now will be how the government goes about delivering on these pledges. Goals such as eliminating all external agency spend by the end of this parliament are ambitious, but without a concrete strategy to replace this essential labour, we risk adding to the pressure on overstretched teams and exacerbating the strain on our chronically overburdened health service.”
Finn Stevenson, CEO and co-founder at Flok Health said: “It’s encouraging to see the 10 Year Plan finally acknowledge what clinicians have long known: the MSK payment and referral model is broken. Reforming block contracts and building a truly universal self-referral system is the right move – but it must be more than just rhetoric.
“Self-referral alone won’t solve the problem unless it’s paired with robust, intelligent triage to avoid simply shifting the pressure from GPs to secondary care.
“Digital-first MSK pathways, powered by AI and remote delivery, are essential if we want to meet soaring demand while maintaining quality and speed. The government’s pledge of ‘innovator passports’ is promising. Now we need to see real momentum behind deploying proven technologies at scale.
“We already have the tools to transform MSK care. We need to use them.”
Philip Pugh, Partner at Browne Jacobson, part of the corporate team specialising in healthcare said: “The introduction of innovator passports should slash red tape and speed up the rollout of MedTech applications across the NHS.
“Currently, MedTech businesses will often be asked for the same data by different NHS trusts. Eliminating multiple compliance assessments and duplication should therefore make the UK more appealing as a base for their operations.
“As a result, NHS patients would benefit by having greater and quicker access to the latest treatments, without falling victim to the ‘postcode lottery’ that has favoured those living in trusts that have made breakthroughs with such treatments.
“However, scepticism will remain about how the innovator passport is rolled out via the digital platform MedTech Compass. This is because the affluence, diversity and genetics of patients in one area may be different to those in another location. Therefore, safeguards will be required on compliance processes from a patient safety and data protection perspective.
“The government must also recognise that not all trusts are at the same stage of digital maturity, as outlined by NHS Confederation CEO Matthew Taylor. Investment in technology will be crucial as cost-cutting measures won’t turn around the NHS.”
Barbara Harpham, Medical Technology Group chair said: “The Ten Year Health Plan marks a historic moment for the NHS as it positions technology as a much-needed transformative force. But equally, it must be recognised as a historic moment for patients. As we embrace innovation and technologies like virtual wards and AI-assisted care, it is critical that the patient voice is not only paid lip-service to but embedded into every step of this transformation.
“Research by the Medical Technology Group has repeatedly shown that patients are a vastly underused asset in shaping the future of the NHS. Patients are often the first to understand poor or limited application of technology, while fully understanding its long-term value in getting them back to work, keeping them out of the hospital and living free from pain and discomfort.
“Despite this, we have found persistent lack of meaningful patient involvement in Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). ICBs are slowly evolving, but patient involvement continues to be patchy and tokenistic, meaning new technologies and innovation are underused, poorly implemented, or fail to address patient challenges. This must change if the Government’s vision for the NHS is to be realised.
“Technology alone will not deliver better outcomes unless reforms are matched with processes and resources that genuinely include patients in choice, design and decision-making. We risk building a technology-first NHS that fails to meet real-world needs if we do not understand how these changes impact those it serves.
“The MTG stands ready to support the Government and NHS leaders in ensuring that amidst this scale of change patient experience and insight is harnessed as an iterative force. With the Government’s three shifts, patients will be required to do more than ever. It is no longer an accessory to the integrated model of care, but an essential component of making this future model work.”
John Ramsay, founder and CEO of Social-Ability said: “Following a disappointing spending review last month, the launch of Labour’s 10-year NHS plan is a welcome step towards community-based care whereby support can be delivered closer to home.
“Currently, one in four hospital beds are occupied by someone living with dementia- not always because they need acute medical care, but because community support simply isn’t there. Real community care means having day centres that can provide meaningful activities and respite for families, home care workers who understand dementia and local support groups that don’t have month-long waiting lists. Without this, the NHS will continue to be at risk of collapse.
“Labour’s talk of integration and community care sounds promising, but without real, sustained funding, it risks being just words. We need to know where the money will come from and what this will actually look like on the ground. When it comes to social care, investment in local community facilities is essential for providing support and improving the quality of life of both local residents and carers. The 10-year plan offers a vision, but now it’s time for clear commitments. Improving social care options within local communities needs to be central, not sidelined, in the future of our health and care system.”
Manjul Rathee, CEO and co-founder at BFB Labs said: “The government’s focus on prevention in children’s mental health is welcome. But the 10 Year Plan still leans too heavily on a face-to-face model that cannot meet the scale or urgency of demand. Children need support now, not in three years’ time.
“New Mental Health Support Teams and Young Futures Hubs are already too late for the millions of children struggling today. The drive to create Kids Hubs in Australia shows that these analogue initiatives take longer than planned to implement and don’t address access challenges. We cannot keep relying on a sluggish, overstretched system to tackle a fast-moving crisis.
“Proven digital therapeutics can deliver immediate, scalable support. But beyond the promise of ‘innovator passports’, tech is missing from the government’s CYP mental health plan. Without guidance or ring-fenced funding to implement and scale digital mental health support for children, we’ll continue to see rising school absences and vulnerable young people falling through the cracks.”
James Townsend – CEO & co-founder of Mobilise said: “The 10-Year Plan marks a welcome shift in how unpaid carers are seen and supported. Carers are not simply stakeholders, but key partners in the delivery of care. But we must ensure carers are also heard and recognised as essential to the future of our health and care systems.
“‘My Carer’ must be co-produced with carers to make the new NHS app feature as useful as possible. Training and accessibility will be vital for the tool to work for carers in the real world.
“The shift towards more community-based care is also promising, but risks placing more pressure on families and friends. We must take seriously the increased burden that this can create for carers – and ensure support structures are there to match.”
Afshin Attari, Director of Public Sector at Exponential-e said: “The NHS 10-year plan offers a long-awaited step forward, focused on bold innovations that will streamline and provide efficiencies. A recurring theme in the Plan is its ambitions for the NHS’s ‘world leading data’ which will ultimately feed into initiatives critical to the Plan’s success, such as the Single Care Record programme and an increase in AI usage.
“According to patient responses, their desire around data usage is for a rigorous approach to privacy and security. However, the Plan itself has no focus on cybersecurity.
“This is cause for concern – we must ensure our defences are just as strong as our ambitions. With the shift from analogue to digital and increase of data use, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly vulnerable, notably as there is also a push now to deliver neighbourhood health service in the community. This new delivery approach will also be heavily reliant on resilient and secure IT systems with an assured Cyber Protection posture.
“The NHS serves 1.6 million people daily and any cyberattack, system failure or data breach can have far-reaching consequences, not only for productivity, but for patient safety and public trust. As threats become more advanced, we must treat healthcare not just as a public service, but as critical national infrastructure.
“Other sectors, like defence and finance, already benefit from stringent cybersecurity standards and government-backed resilience frameworks. Healthcare deserves the same. Threat intelligence sharing, mandatory testing, and robust governance should be baseline, not optional. Innovation must be underpinned by protection. Without securing the foundations, we risk building new systems on unstable ground. As we move forward, digital transformation must go hand in hand with resilience – because in healthcare, the stakes are simply too high.”
Phil Bottle, Managing Director and Co-Founder, SARD said: “A reform plan which includes something as leftfield as ‘patient power payments’ before having an aligned workforce plan, in a system that doesn’t even know what work needs doing, isn’t reform, it’s distraction theatre.
“Moving from a health system that rewards throughput to one that rewards outcomes is a positive direction of travel, but I don’t see how this will work in practice. The only sustainable model is one that’s demand-led, outcome-aligned, and workforce-enabled. We should be focused on funding functions, not roles and paying for outcomes, not activity. Although, it’s disappointing to see that the plan isn’t addressing this straight away, it’s promising that the government has committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year that will move towards this approach. It needs to finally address what workforce is needed, what they should do, where they will be deployed and with what skills. Otherwise, we will continue to reward presence over purpose and wondering why nothing improves.”
Nick Wilson, CEO of System C said: “Transforming public services and increasing productivity through investing in automation and AI is a hugely positive step in the right direction. To truly unlock the potential of these innovations though, we need to see the proof of value these systems deliver in terms of real cash and non-cash releasing benefits, going beyond simple deployment statistics. This requires accountability for delivering value for money with new technologies, rather than just lip service during procurement. If we back the British technology companies who can deploy this AI, we can ensure digital transformation is tailored to our unique health and social care system, driving job creation and supporting the UK economy. Crucially, appropriate governance must be in place to drive innovation rather than stifle it, while always ensuring patient and citizen safety.”
Sharon Hanley, Director of Primary Care, X-on Health said: “Primary care has always been the front door to the NHS, but as the focus shifts from hospital to community-based care, this role is more vital than ever. While a GP-centric approach aligned to the neighbourhood model provides a strong foundation, the real opportunity lies in embedding Integrated Neighbourhood Teams at the heart of this transformation. Delivered nationally but shaped locally, INTs are key to bringing care closer to people’s homes and tailoring support to meet the specific needs of communities.
“To achieve this, primary care delivery must continue to evolve – leveraging advances in AI and technology to enhance access, eliminate the 8am rush, and reduce pressure on GPs and wider primary care teams. These are all challenges we’re actively addressing with partners like Tortus AI and Curistica, and we intend to accelerate this progress. As part of this, digital telephony has been widely adopted but there is more that can be done to improve the utilisation of the advanced features now available. As the population grows and ages, it is crucial that the ambitions set out in the 10 Year Plan move beyond aspiration and translate into real, measurable improvements for patients – enabled through innovation, integration, and local collaboration.”
Dr. Harry Thirkettle, a former NHS surgeon who now heads up Health Innovation at Aire Logic said: “The 10-Year NHS Plan offers an encouraging shift towards prevention, digital delivery and more care outside traditional hospital walls. But to make this vision real, we need to go further and think differently.
“These ambitions need to be backed by the kind of challenger thinking that reshaped industries like banking – where brands like Monzo started from user needs, not inherited systems.
“If digital and community are to take over from hospitals it requires a seamless, joined-up infrastructure and central to this will be achieving a single patient record that follows individuals across settings. Without that foundation, we risk layering innovation on top of fragmentation.”
Rich Pugmire, CEO, Answer Digital said: “In the expected shifts it is welcoming to see a move towards community based care and digital delivery, with the NHS App playing a central role. Through our involvement in projects such as the Metrocentre Community Diagnostic Centre we know first-hand just how impactful community based approaches can be and how they can deliver secondary care services, but understanding the role and importance of data is at the core and this element must be managed correctly.
“Turning ambition into accountable action is by no means a small task and delivery of the plan is paramount. Alongside strong leadership, it is key that the SDEs work together and align with the recently launched Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, ensuring that patient data is used to its full advantage, and managed correctly and securely. Only then will the general public put their trust in the NHS to embrace the new approach.”
Dr Rachael Grimaldi, Co-Founder and CEO, CardMedic said: “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.”
Kath Dean, President, Cloud21 said: “The commitment to a digitally-enabled future health service is clear. What’s needed now is a focus on how we deliver the change needed, successfully and sustainably. That shift requires investment in people, processes and culture and ensure we’re not just investing in tech – but in outcomes.
Emerging innovations—such as AI tools and the development of a single patient record—offer exciting opportunities. But to realise their potential, we must align technology to purpose and help NHS staff transition between traditional ways of working and a digital future. That’s how we’ll build confidence and achieve digital productivity.
The NHS has made important strides in digital investment. To continue to unlock the full value of these efforts and realise benefits, we must ensure that digital workflows are matured around the needs of clinicians, operational teams and their patients. We must connect and maximise the solutions already in place to enable more joined-up care, support out-of-hospital models, and promote prevention.
Long-term service transformation is a journey, built-on tech, used by people and beholden to processes. Bridging the gap between them, redesigning more efficient, safer processes that work for frontline teams, operational staff, and their patients, must come first.
It’s about helping people work differently in a digital environment, and focusing relentlessly on improving patient safety, experience and outcomes. It’s then that we will find the efficiencies needed, embed the highest possible safety standards, whilst improving experience and outcomes for patients and staff.”
Daniel Park, CEO, In Touch Now said: “Intelligent use of AI, as highlighted in the plan with AI scribes and digital telephony, will amplify human capabilities, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on complex, empathetic care. We know that AI receptionists present a significant opportunity for the NHS to improve access, but we can go further with an AI-human hybrid which offers practices and patients the ultimate choice – providing 24/7 intelligent call handling, routing and triage. It will be interesting to see if we can make a joined-up digital infrastructure, with a single patient record and smarter AI integration truly work. The real value from AI will only emerge when we have seamless integration with existing systems and the secure capture of structured data”.
Alex Johnston, HIS Country Leader for UK&I, Solventum said: “As the UK Government outlines its 10-Year Plan for the NHS, a bold and necessary vision emerges: one that aims to create a more preventative, personalised, and digitally enabled healthcare system. At the heart of this transformation lies a deep recognition that technology— particularly Artificial Intelligence —must move from the periphery of innovation to the centre of care delivery.
“We are at a watershed moment. The convergence of policy ambition, public need, and technological maturity offers a rare opportunity to reshape the healthcare landscape for patients and staff alike. As a leader in healthcare technology, I believe AI holds the key to making this plan not just possible, but sustainable.
“With the right safeguards already in place to ensure safety and governance, the priority now must be on giving clinicians access to compliant, proven digital tools. Successful adoption relies on co-design with users, system-wide interoperability, and enterprise scalability. Evidence from live projects at hospitals demonstrate how we have the ability to deliver service transformation, reduce administrative burden, improve data quality, and enable smarter, real-time decision-making.”
Claire Graham, Director, Health Call said: “Putting patients front and centre of their care lies at the heart of the 10 Year Plan and to do this, making use of existing national infrastructure, such as the NHS App, makes absolute sense. We welcome the ambition to democratise care by providing easier access to services and ensuring people are in control of their own health, via the App.
“What we need to support this vision, and make it a reality, are cost-effective digital solutions that work for the people that will use them, patients, their care teams, and operational staff, from across our health services. As an NHS-owned organisation, we know from experience that co-created, capable solutions deliver sustainable, lasting impact. Shiny new features, created in isolation, do not.
“Digital inclusion out in our communities will be fundamental to more widespread roll-out of patient involvement, self-management and remote care models. Whilst we wait for the £1.9bn investment in rural broadband to take effect, we should prioritise solutions that cater for individuals without smartphones or email accounts, redressing inequalities and also proven to reduce DNAs.”
Mark Hutchinson, Senior Vice President – Healthcare Strategy & Transformation, Altera Digital Health UK & EMEA said: “It’s an important day for the NHS, the 10 Year Plan is finalised so it means all concerned can focus on implementing the changes and, crucially, driving real-world impact for patients and health professionals. 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.”
Darren Ransley, Managing Director UK & Ireland at Better said: “The 10-year NHS 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 Single Patient Record (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. The commitment to interoperability, openness, and patient control outlined in the plan aligns strongly with Better’s approach, and we are committed to working with NHS partners to bring our learnings from similar digital and data initiatives in order to serve both today’s needs and tomorrow’s ambitions.”
John Patterson, President of IKE Tech said: “While the Government’s 10-year health plan aspires to end the harms of tobacco and create a smoke-free generation, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill does not go far enough to achieve these aims. Simply stopping vapes from being branded, promoted, and advertised to children addresses only a fraction of the problem and fails to confront the scale of the issue.
“Almost 1 in 10 secondary school pupils currently vape, and nearly half (48%) of underage vapers report buying vapes directly from shops. Yet, even with existing sales restrictions, young people are still able to get a hold of vapes with ease, often circumventing age limits through proxy purchasing or fake IDs.
“Additionally, vaping is one of the most effective methods for quitting combustible tobacco, and overly limiting flavours could deter those trying to give up smoking, ultimately harming overall quit rates. Meanwhile, the fundamental issue, accessibility, remains unaddressed.
“To achieve a truly smoke-free generation, action must go beyond retail regulation. Just as in other public health challenges, we need to harness digital innovation, like technology for effective age verification at the point of use, to ensure vapes activate only in the hands of adults. Without this, loopholes will remain and young people will continue to access these products, regardless of packaging or promotion.”
Louise Burke, CEO of the Open Data Institute said: “Prevention works best when we treat physical activity like medicine. That means giving healthcare professionals access to reliable, local information on what’s available. OpenActive delivers that data – it’s a solution that can be scaled across the country to support healthier communities and tackle physical inactivity.”
Chris Boardman, Chair of Sport England, added: “Active lifestyles prevent chronic illness and increase our enjoyment of life, so making activity an easy, everyday choice must be at the heart of a prevention-first NHS. At present, healthcare professionals often don’t have the time or the tools to make physical activity part of routine care. We must change this. OpenActive can be a big part of the evolution by putting trusted, local activity options right at the fingertips of healthcare workers – like a prescription pad for physical activity. These are the things that will make emerging Neighbourhood Health Services thrive.”
Angel Alberich-Bayarri, CEO and co-founder of Quibim said: “The NHS’s 10-Year Health Plan marks a bold and necessary shift toward a more preventative, digitally enabled healthcare system. We strongly support the emphasis on early detection—particularly through advanced imaging biomarkers and AI-driven diagnostics—which has the potential to transform patient outcomes and reduce long-term costs.
“We also welcome the Government’s commitment to trialling and scaling new technologies. For innovation to truly benefit patients, it must be tested in real-world settings and integrated into clinical pathways. The NHS is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation, and we look forward to contributing our expertise in imaging and precision medicine to help make this vision a reality.”
Geoff Twist, Managing Director of Roche Diagnostics UK and Ireland said: “We welcome the renewed focus on moving care closer to where patients are, and accelerating access to diagnostics, in the Government’s new 10-Year Health Plan published today.
“The launch of the ‘Innovator Passport’ is a clear and welcome signal that the government is committed to getting the best new technologies to patients more quickly.
“For too long, duplication and delays have stood between proven innovations and the patients who need them most. Speeding up the adoption of technologies that can reduce infections, shorten hospital stays, and enable all the benefits of earlier diagnosis, is essential to ensuring the very best outcomes for patients and securing the long-term financial sustainability and future of our NHS.
“At Roche Diagnostics UK and Ireland, we have always believed that partnerships across the healthcare system are key to making meaningful change. Today, we’re working in close collaboration with the NHS, government, academic and industry partners across the country to help ensure innovations reach patients, without compromising quality or safety.
“This is work that we can share, and build on, to keep the momentum going; with the common aim of ensuring every patient in the UK benefits from the right test and the right treatment at the right time.”
Dr David Crane, CEO and founder of Smoke Free said: “Smoke Free welcomes the government’s new direction for the NHS and its clear recognition that the future of public health lies in empowering individuals earlier and more effectively – particularly through digital tools that can meet people where they are, at the moment they need support most.
“We are proud that Smoke Free is actively supporting two of the NHS’ key strategic shifts: from analogue to digital delivery and from treatment to prevention. Our evidence-based digital platform helps people quit smoking before more serious interventions are required, reducing long-term pressure on NHS services.
“We also welcome the ongoing commitment to making the UK smoke free by 2030. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is a vital step, but it’s equally important that those already addicted to smoking are given meaningful, accessible support to quit.
“The government’s ambition to deliver more care through community hubs – including services such as smoking cessation – presents a major opportunity to embed preventative care closer to people’s lives. Digital tools like Smoke Free can play a vital role in ensuring these hubs are both scalable and effective, particularly in areas with the highest rates of smoking.
“Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the UK, costing the NHS over £2 billion annually and driving significant health inequality – particularly in deprived communities.
“Our digital solution is already making a difference. The rollout of Smoke Free’s app across Greater Manchester shows how digital behaviour change tools can empower hundreds of thousands to quit successful – quickly, accessibly and cost-effectively.
“As the NHS looks to shift more care into the community and prioritise prevention, we urge the government and NHS leaders to keep tobacco harm reduction at the forefront of public health planning – and to recognise the crucial role of digital innovation in delivering that goal.”
Jess O’Dwyer, General Manager Europe, Pocketalk said: “The Government’s new 10-year Health Plan for England rightly recognises the need for reform and investment in the NHS, but to truly deliver effective change for the good of all, implementation and education must be front and centre.
“To deliver the plan there must be education on how digital tools can support – not replace – healthcare professionals. Everyone must be aligned and recognise that technology holds the power to transform the NHS. That new technology is ready to go right now and could save the NHS millions, but the process for getting suppliers on board is taking far too long.
“Working within the NHS to address communications challenges in healthcare, we know how slow the NHS has been to adopt new technology, often due to procurement or bureaucratic hurdles. This leads to more issues when healthcare workers are forced to find their own solutions which can compromise security and safety.
“Research that we conducted found that frontline workers resort to using their own personal devices to access apps like Google Translate, to try and bridge communication gaps with patients who don’t speak English – despite clear guidance against it. This highlights the real-world urgency for appropriate, integrated tech solutions that can quickly, cost-effectively and easily slot into the NHS’s structure for a country that is multi-cultural and multilingual.
“To deliver on the plan, digital hesitancy must be addressed. Outdated misconceptions around safety and accuracy plague decision makers. The resistance to AI needs to change – implementing AI correctly will enhance and improve the NHS offering exponentially, making it fit for the future.
“The healthcare sector needs to follow examples of the Ministry of Justice that is addressing translation and interpretation issues. More progression will be needed to embrace the promise of new technology that is outlined in the plan.
“In that vein, we welcome the suggested improvements to the NHS App, but to help save the £200 million currently spent on patient communication, we must ensure that new technology enables every patient to receive messages in their desired language. A common reason for complaints in the NHS is poor communication.
“As Keir Starmer mentioned, incorporating efficient and effective tech will help free up and support NHS staff to do what they know best and focus on the patient, also helping save NHS time and money; we look forward to the possibility of partnering with the NHS in this endeavour.”
George Lawton, Head of Healthcare, GS1 UK said: “Data standards are the foundation of a safer and more efficient digital health service. They ensure the right patient receives the right product in the right place, every time. To successfully shift from analogue to digital, national adoption of GS1 standards and Scan4Safety principles must be a top priority. Embedding these standards across all new and existing systems is essential to delivering the NHS 10-Year Plan and improving care at scale.”
Mark Hindle, Managing Director, Tunstall UK & Ireland said: “The inclusion of the Neighbourhood Health Service in today’s 10-Year Plan is strongly welcomed, especially the emphasis on prevention, personalisation, and support for independent living.
“We are particularly encouraged by the recognition of community-based services and local infrastructure as essential resources in achieving this vision. Services like our current response hubs are already demonstrating the value of timely, localised support that enables people to live independently and safely.
“To fully realise Plan’s ambitions, the analogue to digital switchover must be handled with care, ensuring inclusive collaboration and equitable access to digital services. A fully digital telecare infrastructure is foundational to unlocking the benefits of modern, responsive care.
“Like all partners across the health and care system we now look forward to the publication of detailed delivery plans and targets; to ensure that the vision set out in the Plan can become a reality.”
Jane Rendall, UK and Ireland Managing Director, Sectra said: “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.
“We’ve already seen substantial growth in imaging networks sharing scarce expertise across trust boundaries. More boundaries might now break down – even leading to cross-regional models where specialists can review and report on imaging acquired nationally.
“New thinking – such as virtual diagnostics – could better serve deprived and vulnerable communities, and deliver on many goals in the plan. This must be supported by mechanisms to bring in the latest technologies at pace and safely – including AI. Trusts have limited resource and tools must be made available to them to efficiently adopt and consume the AI that will help them serve their populations the best. Combined, this presents an opportunity to harness scale, reduce waste, and deliver fairness where it matters most.”
Alan Fowles, Global President, St. Vincent’s Consulting said: “The plan’s commitment to shift from reactive to preventative care, and from fragmented to integrated services, reflects the complex demands facing both the NHS and social services. Turning that ambition into reality requires more than funding or technology alone; it demands trust, collaboration, and a redefinition of what “good” looks like. It also requires a clear understanding of where funding will come from and a procurement process that operates efficiently and effectively.
“We now have a valuable opportunity to move beyond legacy thinking and focus on how digital tools can support the delivery of coordinated, inclusive, and efficient care, tailored to the most appropriate setting. This shift is less about individual tools and more about cultivating the conditions for innovation to thrive, where data flows securely, people are empowered, systems are responsive to real needs, and patients understand both their expected outcomes and their role in maintaining personal wellbeing.”
Dr Mark Ratnarajah, UK managing director for C2-Ai and practising NHS paediatrician said: “The NHS 10 Year Plan must deliver urgent, measurable impact in the short term – not just long-term ambition. In support, the £10bn digital budget must go beyond national apps and records to support evidence-driven, anticipatory, and localised health and care models.
“A rapid focus on elective recovery means more than clearing backlogs, but identifying at-risk patients early to avoid deterioration and costly escalation. Technology can already stratify patient risk and support targeted community interventions that reduce emergency admissions and complications. National blueprints now exist and scaling such proven models must be a top priority.
“Prevention must also become reality. That means predictive, anticipatory care backed by real-time data and citizen empowerment. Giving patients access to personalised insights and making clear their responsibilities, where appropriate, will strengthen health and could reduce avoidable demand.
“As trusts are given new powers, but also held accountable and potentially paid based on ratings, they must also be given the tools to compare apples with apples – and to measure the quality of care based on observed outcomes as an evidence base, not just opinion.
“Merging ICBs urgently need digital tools to map localised determinants of health and structure services effectively. And in maternity care – often the barometer of the NHS – data must be used proactively to enable openness, actionable learning, and crucially detect and resolve systemic issues before they become scandals. Data-driven safety tools can spot early signals of system-level and individualised risk before harm occurs. Safe, equitable care for mothers and babies is essential.
“The NHS must become a learning institution. A culture of real-time insight and continuous improvement – can lead to safer, efficient care. It’s already happening to great effect in some of the world’s top performing health systems, and if embraced now, these shifts won’t just keep the NHS afloat – they could secure a sustainable future. Health tech isn’t just a cost; it is a catalyst for empowering what’s needed.”
Chris Goldie, CEO, Vertex in Healthcare said: “Embracing new technology as a means to ensure the stability and sustainability of NHS services is a positive focus in the 10-year plan. The shift from analogue to digital must also encompass re-invention of some of the existing digital systems heavily relied on in the health service.
“Productivity expectations on healthcare professionals to do more with patients can only be met if the IT systems they use allow them to stop doing other things that consume time. In radiology, an area critical to the plan, royal colleges continue to point to sizeable efforts being spent on administration and on imaging teams dealing with unresponsive technology.
“Put simply, we can’t expect clinical teams to perform miracles with outdated technology. A procurement shake-up is essential to allow new entrants to provide innovation where it has been lacking, and to design IT systems specifically for the modern needs of teams under pressure. Technologies must also be expected to integrate within and beyond hospital walls. We have a collective responsibility to create the technological environment for the plan, and the people central to that plan, to succeed.”
Jeremy Nettle, Chair of the Highland Marketing advisory board said: “There are some similarities between the 10 Year Health Plan and the strategies drawn up during the Blair administration, which is not too surprising given that some of their architects are back at the Department of Health and Social Care.
“However, this plan will have to be delivered in very different circumstances, with much tighter finances and higher demand. In this context, moving money from secondary care to primary care and – hopefully, mental health – is positive but a high-risk strategy, if it means the acute sector struggles to deliver its targets and creaking infrastructure continues to frustrate staff and patients.
“The government’s commitment to moving from an analogue to a digital service is welcome, but that creaking IT infrastructure and long-standing issues with interoperability will need to be addressed if it really wants AI-powered workflows and to modernise the NHS App.
“The public may also be expecting more rapid improvements than current roadmaps envisage. For example, the 10 Year Health Plan talks about agentic AI assisting for both clinicians and patients. Yet as things stand, there isn’t even two-way communication through the app. The plan has huge ambitions for a prevention first, neighbourhood first, and digital first service, but as with the plans from the 2000s, the issue is whether its vision can be realised. I hope we’ll see some detailed, funded, and realistic strategies for delivery, now it has finally been published.”
Robert Brown, Senior Marketing Executive, Accutronics said: “The NHS’s 10-Year Plan places a strong focus on digital technology, remote monitoring and preventative care — and wearable medical devices are central to making this vision a reality. From adhesive patches to wrist-worn monitors, these devices support early diagnosis and long-term condition management. But to function reliably in real-world conditions, they need a dependable power source. Without the right battery technology, wearables can’t meet the expectations set by the Plan.”
“As the NHS scales up the use of wearables across everything from diabetes management to cardiac care, each application comes with different size, shape and power requirements. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Our Thin Cell batteries can be customised to meet the specific needs of each device.”
“For wearable technology to support the NHS’s long-term goals, patients must be willing and able to wear these devices consistently. Comfort is critical — if a patch or band is too bulky or intrusive, patients may simply stop using it. Ultralife’s Thin Cell batteries allow devices to be designed thinner and lighter without compromising on performance. That’s a small detail with a big impact on engagement, adherence, and ultimately, health outcomes.”
