BTS Health Digest #58 - Reflections from #HETT North 2025
Picture from HETT North Website
The beautiful city of Manchester played host to HETT North 2025, and I was not going to miss it for anything.
HETT North 2025 in Manchester provided a superb platform for healthcare leaders, digital health experts, clinicians, and other healthcare professionals to discuss the evolving landscape of health technology. The event highlighted the ongoing challenges and opportunities in digital transformation, emphasizing prevention, improving digital engagement, and interoperability (the bane of true data sharing).
Here are my key takeaways:
Prioritising Prevention Over Cure
One of the central discussions at HETT North was the need to shift focus from treatment to prevention. Dan Bower emphasized that designing healthcare digital products for prevention requires a fundamental rethink of strategy and design.
Encouraging patients to engage with digital services remains a major challenge. Solutions that are cumbersome or add extra workflows often face resistance. To drive meaningful adoption, digital tools must be intuitive, accessible, and patient-centric.
Engagement and Training in Digital Health
Engagement with both healthcare staff and end-users is critical during the design process. Digital solutions that are designed in isolation often fail due to a lack of practical usability. Engaging clinicians and patients early ensures that technology enhances workflows rather than complicating them.
Training is another essential component of digital adoption. Digital education should be embedded into medical training curricula so that future healthcare professionals can seamlessly adopt and integrate technology into patient care. Clinicians are also encouraged to take on the role of Clinical Safety Officers to ensure that digital health solutions meet safety standards.
Interoperability and the Role of Data
Interoperability remains a persistent challenge, particularly between primary and secondary care. A fully integrated healthcare system requires seamless data sharing, yet a lot of the current systems within the NHS operate in silos, limiting the ability to predict health trends and improve patient outcomes.
There is growing optimism that the Federated Data Platform (FDP) will help address interoperability challenges. However, questions remain about its implementation and effectiveness. Ensuring that data flows efficiently across different parts of the NHS will be key to unlocking predictive analytics and more efficient care.
Funding Challenges and Pilot Project Limitations
Funding continues to be a barrier to digital transformation. Many healthcare organizations are hesitant to invest in large-scale digital solutions, often relying on pilot projects to test feasibility. However, pilots frequently fail to create lasting change due to their temporary nature and lack of continuity. It is important to note that a pilots cost a lot of money and time. Dr. Omasan wrote about it and I totally agree with him. Sustainable funding models are needed to ensure long-term success in digital initiatives.
Re-thinking Digital Adoption: Supporting New Ways of Working
A major theme at HETT North was the importance of rethinking how digital solutions are introduced and adopted within healthcare settings.
Championing Change: Having digital champions within healthcare organizations can significantly improve adoption rates. Champions act as advocates, helping colleagues embrace new technologies, processes, and workflows.
Stakeholder Engagement and Management: Product teams should involve key stakeholders, including frontline staff and patients, during the design and development of clinical-focused products. Solutions that are co-designed with users are more likely to succeed.
Beautiful Scenery and Connections
My day was not complete without networking and taking some beautiful pictures of Manchester. The city reminds me of Lagos with its unending hustle and bustle. I hope to go back there for a proper holiday.
It was great to meet Dr. Omasan Edun who I have even hosted on my podcast where he shared his journey into project management. Dr. Avi Mehra is a great guy, and I took notes as he shared some solid career tips with us.
Enjoy some scenic shots around Manchester!
Final Thoughts
HETT North 2025 reaffirmed the notion that transforming digital health calls for more than simply new technology; it also calls for effective training, sustained funding, and strategic involvement. By putting prevention first, resolving interoperability problems, and encouraging cooperation, the NHS can significantly influence the uptake of digital healthcare.
If you attended, I would love to hear from you.
Till the next episode,
Cheers.
Dr. Ron
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