From strategy to reality: mapping the future decade of digital health infrastructure

 At HETT 2025, digital health leaders from across the UK came together to discuss the future of data and infrastructure through the lens of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan (10YHP). Six months on from the publication of the 10YHP the focus is shifting from ambition to implementation. What will the next decade of digital infrastructure look like and which foundations should be prioritised to prime the NHS for success? 

Data: a rich asset for health and care

One message came through clearly from the expert panel: a health and care system that is fit for the future must be both data-driven and patient-centric. With better interoperability and the confidence to embrace innovation, experiences and outcomes can be improved for patients.

The Local Health and Care Record Exemplar (LHCRE) programme is one of several initiatives showing how shared data is already transforming care across regions. Speaking about the work underway in Manchester, Chief Intelligence and Analytics Officer for NHS Greater Manchester, Matt Hennessey, highlighted ambitions and progress behind the Greater Manchester (GM) Care Record.

GM’s Care Record successfully brings together and links patient data from systems across secondary care, mental health, community, primary care, social care and specialist services¹. With timely access to the information they need to build a clearer picture of local population health, frontline teams can better design preventative interventions focusing on where they will have the greatest impact.

A critical factor in the programme’s success is ensuring access to the right data at the right time, irrespective of the care setting. That relies not only on access but on capturing data that is relevant, consistent and accurate.

The right data, right place, right time

Ming Tang, Chief Data and Analytics Officer and Interim Chief Digital and Information Officer at NHS England, urged the sector to shift from collecting data about services to understanding the needs of people – patients and clinicians alike. This ambition is reflected in national projects such as the Federated Data Platform (FDP) and the Single Patient Record (SPR), both of which form two core delivery pillars to support the NHS 10YHP.

The FDP and SPR will play a pivotal role in integrating data in ways that enhance patient safety and care quality while optimising process efficiencies for care providers. By allowing data to seamlessly flow between the two, clinicians will have better access to the information they need to make faster, more accurate decisions and to streamline transitions of care between organisations^2,3.

Between June 2021 and January 2023, the Nuffield Trust reported a sharp rise in delayed discharges for long-stay patients (21+ days in hospital), jumping from a daily average of 2,575 patients in June 2021 to 6,815 patients in January 2023. Numbers continued to fluctuate between 2023 and 2025, with discharges then increasing again to 6,213 on average in June 2025⁴.

Transfers of care is just one example of where the FDP is already making a tangible impact through the Optimised Patient Tracking and Intelligent Choices Application – OPTICA. By pooling relevant data from various systems, including the electronic patient record, OPTICA helps to coordinate discharges between hospitals and social care. This streamlines key transfer tasks such as issuing discharge summaries or medications, ensuring patients move to the right care settings at the right time, reducing avoidable delays².

Some NHS trusts already using the FDP for this purpose, including North Tees and Hartlepool, are seeing clear reductions in delayed transfers of care. Since its implementation, North Tees has reported a 36 per cent reduction in the number of long stays despite a 7.7 per cent increase in overall hospital admissions⁵. This is a strong example of how shared data can help relieve operational pressure while improving patient flow.

Systems underpinned by trusted data

One barrier often faced when procuring or implementing new systems is achieving true system interoperability. It is a challenge that is frequently faced at a local level when integrating internal departments or systems across trust sites. At national level, the scale of the task grows exponentially, where connecting and feeding data between hundreds, or even thousands, of individual systems becomes significantly more complex.

George Lawton, Head of Healthcare at GS1 UK reinforced the need for a common language to be used across all systems to support system-wide integration at scale– a language that is delivered through standardised data.

Data standards are often an afterthought needing to be retrofitted once systems are already in place. This leaves organisations on the back foot when it comes to data sharing. The real shift needed from analogue to digital is from a ‘systems-first’ to a ‘standards-first’ approach to technology procurement. With data standards embedded into local systems and national platforms from the outset, the NHS can build a robust foundation for digital infrastructure.

Standards also provide the means to eliminate inconsistencies and reduce the risk of human error in how data is captured and shared, a shift which will be even more essential as national datasets expands. When all systems are underpinned by standards, users can have greater confidence in the accuracy of data they rely on to better inform clinical or operational decisions. For national programmes like the Outcomes and Registries programme, collecting trusted, standardised data will be essential for analysis and reporting of performance metrics and understanding patient outcomes⁶.

Building foundations for success

Digital transformation in a resource constrained environment will always be challenging, but it should not add to the burden on frontline teams. Ming stressed that technology must lighten, not add to, clinical load and encouraged organisations to make better use of systems they already have rather than starting from scratch.

Kira Levy, Head of UK Healthcare at Amazon Web Services agreed, highlighting the importance of partnerships and shared learnings in creating sustainable long-term infrastructure. Aligning the interests of stakeholders across the system is essential to ensure that technology supports teams and organisations in the way they need it to. It is all too easy to jump to solutions before truly understanding the problem that needs solving – a weakness of many technology projects.

Ultimately, trust and transparency are the foundations of long-term success. Lucie Laker, Chief Data Officer at Somerset ICS, emphasised that trust must extend beyond strategic partners to the public itself. Clear and transparent data governance will be central to building public confidence. Involving patients in open, meaningful dialogue helps to foster a sense of shared responsibility for data use. Strengthening patient trust around the appropriate use of their information is essential to overcoming hesitancy, supporting sustained engagement and buy-in.

A long-term digital infrastructure for the future NHS

A digital infrastructure that is both data and system agnostic is essential to realising the ambitions of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan and its strength must be built on standards.

Only by taking a “standards‑first” approach can the power of data be truly unlocked at scale. It means giving patients the tools they need to better manage their own health and empowering frontline staff with accurate, trusted data to support clinical and operational decision making. Achieving this will depend on trust, collaboration and a relentless focus on people. Together, these elements will help shape an NHS that is fit for the future and equipped to deliver safer, smarter, more connected care for all.

Interested in how digital innovation and leadership are shaping the future of healthcare?

Join us at the HETT Leaders’ Summit this February to explore practical insights, peer-led discussions, and cutting-edge approaches driving transformation across the NHS.