HETT 2025 & The Power of Lived Experience - Prioritising People in System Design

As HETT 2025 approaches, one of our strongest commitments remains clear: ensuring that the voices of people receiving care are not just heard but actively shape the future of digital health and social care. 

A cause close to my heart when curating content for the show is making sure those voices are genuinely listened to and valued. Across this year’s programme, engagement with people who use health and social care services is not a side conversation - it’s a central pillar. 

Just this week, UseMYData marked National Patient Data Day (24 June), a timely reminder that trust, transparency, and meaningful participation must sit at the heart of how we collect, use, and share health and social care data. 

As public awareness around data rights, consent, and digital inclusion continues to grow, so too does the expectation for genuine engagement. The call for openness and accountability in how data underpins digital health and social care services has never been clearer—or more urgent. 

At HETT 2025 to highlight the importance of the people and public’s voices in health and care have curated the following sessions:  

Beyond the Tick-Box: Confronting the Challenges of Adopting Meaningful Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) 

This important panel will dig deep into how health and social care systems can: 

• Move beyond tokenistic approaches and embed genuine co-creation. 
• Address barriers like workforce pressure, inconsistent funding, and cultural resistance. 
• Make marginalised voices central to service design. 
• Harness digital platforms to support inclusive, accessible participation. 

Confirmed voices include: 

• Claire Dellar, NHS England 
• Michelle Gardener, KMS SDE 
• Sarah Tilsed, The Patients Association 
• Joyce Fox, Independent Public Advisor 
• Isabel Clark, Health Innovation Kent, Surrey, Sussex 
• Lorraine Stanley, Sex With A Difference CIC 

These leaders and grassroots advocates have embedded successful feedback loops in real-world settings. 

Making Clinical Systems Work for All – Confronting Bias and Driving Equity 

This session asks what it really means to design digital systems that serve everyone equally, unpacking how to identify and address the root causes of bias, whether racial, gender, socioeconomic, or geographic, embedded in clinical systems and datasets.  

It will highlight practical actions for auditing and preventing algorithmic inequities, ensuring inclusive data collection, and embedding transparent consent processes. Most importantly, it will emphasise the role of marginalised communities in shaping fairer digital tools, and how frontline staff can be supported to challenge digital health disparities. 

Confirmed speakers: 

• Katherine Church, Chair, HETT Women’s Health Working Group 
• Michelle Gardener, Digital & Data Patient and Public Advisory Group Vice Chair, KMS SDE 
• Adele Marshall, Professor of Statistics & Co-Chair, Queen’s University Belfast & AphA Research Liaison Network 
• Gayathri Kumar, Senior Health Economist, Health Economics Unit 
• Monica Jones, Chief Data Officer & Associate Director, University of Leeds & HDR UK North 

These thought leaders and experts are driving real change by challenging bias, championing equitable data practices, and embedding inclusive design principles across digital health and care systems. 

People Receiving Care Are Not Just Participants — They Are Partners 

From digital health checks and the Federated Data Platform to AI diagnostics and accessible apps, success relies on systems being built with the people they’re meant to serve. That’s why HETT 2025 prioritises having representatives from the health and social care communities across multiple sessions and stages. 

Their lived experience challenges assumptions, brings fresh insight, and helps us all focus on what really matters: digital services that work in real-life scenarios, not just in theory. 

Join the Movement at HETT 2025 

Taking place on 7-8th October at ExCeL London, HETT 2025 will once again platform the changemakers, communities, and collaborations that shape the future of healthtech. And at the core of that future? The people receiving care. 

Their voices. Their needs. Their experiences. 

Because the digital transformation of health and social care should always start and end, with the people it serves. 

To see the full agenda for HETT 2025 and register to join us for these important discussions, please visit here