The Digital Health news team gathered for the latest episode of Unplugged to dissect what Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the state of the NHS has to say about digital and tech.
The report, published on 12 September 2024, says that the NHS is in “serious trouble” and highlights “worrying health inequalities” and a deterioration in the health of the nation.
However Lord Darzi concludes that the health service is in a “critical condition, but its vital signs are still strong” and calls for a “major tilt towards technology to unlock productivity”.
The news team debate Lord Darzi’s view that the last decade has been a missed opportunity to prepare the NHS for the future and embrace technologies that would enable a shift in the model from ‘diagnose and treat’ to ‘predict and prevent’.
They also discuss the idea that tech needs to be better utilised to shift care out of hospitals and into the community and the importance of getting the basics right first through focusing on core infrastructure and hardware.
The view that the NHS App has yet to reach its potential is discussed before the team look ahead to the autumn budget and speculate whether the Labour government will commit to £3.4 billion of investment in NHS digitisation announced by the former government in March 2024.
Read Digital Health News’ coverage of the Darzi report, including industry reactions here.
Panel:
Jordan Sollof, podcast host and news reporter at Digital Health
Jon Hoeksma, chief executive at Digital Health
Tammy Lovell, news editor at Digital Health
Thelma Agnew, features editor at Digital Health
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