Responding to the government’s announcement of a £10bn investment in NHS technology and data, Pritesh Mistry, Fellow at The King’s Fund, said:  

‘Today’s announcements could help turbo-charge improvements in how NHS uses modern technology to deliver better care for patients. The government has now set out a clearer vision for how technology can support the ambitions of the ten-year health plan and provided much-needed clarity about how the £10bn allocated at the Spending Review 2025 will be invested across the NHS.  

‘The focus on reducing waiting times, improving quality of care, cutting the administrative burden on staff and supporting prevention is the right one. Technology has significant potential to improve the experience of patients and staff, whether through easier appointment booking and management via the NHS App, better-coordinated care through shared records or by freeing clinicians from routine paperwork so they have better working conditions and can spend more time with patients.  

‘For patients, the real test will be whether these investments make care feel more joined up, more convenient and more empowering. People should find it easier to have support at the right time and in a way that best suits them, digitally or physically. And this means the NHS will need to keep a strong focus on ensuring that people are not digitally excluded as clinical services become increasingly reliant on technology.  

‘The government's decision to link these programmes to evaluation frameworks and real-time measurement of benefits is particularly welcome. While there is understandable enthusiasm about the potential of technologies such as AI-assisted triage, ambient voice technology and digital therapeutics, there is still limited evidence about the scale of productivity improvements that can realistically be achieved across the NHS. A strong commitment to transparent and rapid evaluation will be essential to understanding what works, where benefits are being realised and where approaches need to be adapted iteratively.  

‘However, technology alone will not deliver transformation. The success of these plans will depend just as much on the people as on the technology itself. Staff need the time, training, and leadership support to adopt new ways of working, and services need to be redesigned around patients, not simply digitising existing processes. Digital maturity across the NHS is highly variable which means a risk of uneven benefits for patients depending on their location, getting the foundations right and reducing variation are just as important as implementing cutting edge technology. Funding needs to create the capacity to change not just pay for the technology, as we’ve seen in the past. Patient and public engagement and readiness is important to overcome exclusion barriers and ensure the public are well placed to benefit from these technological changes.  

‘The government's aim to take an iterative approach, building on existing programmes and learning from implementation, is sensible. The ambition to use digital technology to redesign pathways, support clinical decision-making and release capacity back into patient care is the right one. The challenge now will be turning that ambition into measurable improvements in people's experience of care, better outcomes for patients and a more productive NHS.’