Full paper here: humanfactors.jmir.org/2025/1/e66398

Thanks to Richard Kenyon, Ross Spencer and Professor Roger Moore for their contributions to this work.

#NHS #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #Innovation #NHSDigital

The talent exists. The capability exists.
What’s missing is investment, coordination, and modern standards to scale innovation.

On the tech stack:
Most use C# (59%).
Few use Python, despite NHS England recommending it.

But here’s the gap:

Only 22% of teams have applied for innovation grants.

Just 15% regularly use open-source tech.

93% of these teams work directly with clinical staff to create solutions that fit real-world needs.

This is innovation happening at the point of care.

84% of NHS Trusts have in-house development teams delivering apps, websites, and digital tools.

These teams are already building the systems patients and clinicians rely on every day.

#DigitalHealth #NHS #PublicHealth #HealthTech #NHSLongTermPlan

To everyone who worked on DWMP:
You did something meaningful. Page 65 is proof. You are seen. Your work matters.

We often celebrate innovation. But we also need to sustain the people and teams who deliver it.

I’ve spent most of my career building digital services that improve people’s health. It’s fulfilling work. And it only happens because teams like ours make it real.

Recognition and expansion in one part of the plan.
Disbandment in another.

Then I reached page 79.
It says our organisation is being shut down.

That programme was built by my team at Midlands and Lancashire CSU, a group of incredibly dedicated people committed to digital health.

As much as it pains me to say this I have to put my mental health academic hat on for the sake of ADHD and Autistics out there. ADHD and Autism are neurological disorders and OCD is a mental illness. Although all three can be comorbid.

Back here again already!?!