Show Notes
Host Jordan Sollof is joined by the co-directors of the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) to discuss how the NHS can attract female innovators and those from underrepresented groups. Mindy Simon and Jack Porter discuss how the NIA provides “wrap-around” support and acts as a bridge between innovators and the NHS. They then make clear that the NIA is encouraging and targeting applications from female innovators, black innovators and those from underrepresented backgrounds. In 2019, after revising their promotional language and approach, the NIA achieved 40% female innovators in that year’s cohort. In the last two years, the figure has fallen to 18% female innovators. Across the entire 10-year history of the NIA, there have only been two black innovators out of more than 100 fellows and around eight Asian innovators accepted into the programme. To address this, Simon explains how the NIA are refining how they communicate about the programme to ensure the wording attracts a wider and more diverse pool of applicants. In the episode Porter also highlights several success stories from NIA fellows, before reflecting on Rewired 2025, where the NIA launched its largest new cohort of fellows, with plans for an even bigger number when the accelerator launches again at Rewired 2026. Guests: Mindy Simon, co-director of the NHS Innovation Accelerator Jack Porter, co-director of the NHS Innovation Accelerator
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Karen Jewell, chief midwifery officer in the Welsh government, joins Digital Health Unplugged to discuss the rollout of a single digital maternity record across Wales and the lessons for the wider NHS. Wales has become the first UK nation to introduce a single digital maternity record across all seven health boards to improve how maternity information is recorded and shared between services. In this episode, Jewell joins Jordan Sollof, reporter at Digital Health News, to discuss the Digital Maternity Cymru programme and the challenges of delivering a national digital maternity record. Jewell explains how the programme aims to address longstanding problems caused by fragmented systems, inconsistent data and poor communication between services. She also discusses how Wales delivered the rollout, with five health boards going live within approximately six weeks, and the role of clinical engagement, early adopters and digital midwives in supporting implementation. Looking ahead, Jewell discusses plans to extend the digital record into neonatal and early pregnancy services, and how better data could help improve maternity outcomes and experiences. With England working towards its own single patient record, the conversation also considers what other parts of the NHS can learn from Wales' experience of delivering digital transformation nationally. Guest: Karen Jewell, chief midwifery officer in the Welsh government
The latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged explores how technology alone is not enough to deliver the productivity gains needed across the NHS. Host Jordan Sollof is joined by Tera Allas, co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission, which was launched by the Health Foundation think tank in May 2025 to identify solutions that can support productivity growth in the NHS in England. The podcast follows the publication of the commission's final report, which states that improving productivity through better use of technology, the workforce and capital could save the NHS in England up to £33 billion a year by 2040, while preventing up to 20,600 deaths annually. In the episode, Allas explains how the commission arrived at those findings and discusses why a major challenge facing the NHS is no longer identifying promising technologies but adopting and scaling them consistently across the health service. The conversation explores whether decades of promises around digital transformation can finally be realised, where AI has the greatest potential to improve care and productivity, and why technology alone will not be enough without changes to leadership, incentives and the way NHS organisations operate. Allas also reflects on the balance between saving money and freeing up staff time, the disruption that inevitably comes with implementing new digital systems, and what success would look like in five years if the NHS had achieved meaningful productivity improvements through technology. Guest: Tera Allas, co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission
Digital Health Unplugged returns as host Jordan Sollof is joined by Lawrence Tallon, chief executive at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), to discuss the newly published blueprint for regulating AI in healthcare. The National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare published its recommendations today (10 September), setting out how the UK can give patients faster, safer access to AI in their care. Tallon discusses some of the key recommendations and what they could mean for patients, clinicians and developers of AI-enabled medical devices. Among the proposals is a staged, “L-plates” style approach to authorising new AI models, designed to enable promising technologies to reach patients more quickly while evidence about their safety and effectiveness continues to develop. Sollof asks Tallon how the proposed system would work and, crucially, how regulators could ensure that speeding up access does not expose patients to greater risk. The discussion also explores the commission’s call for continuous, real-world monitoring of AI-enabled medical devices throughout their working lives, including who would be responsible for monitoring systems once they are deployed and why a single point of approval may no longer be sufficient for AI technologies that can change over time. Tallon is questioned on proposals to make safety information about individual AI-enabled medical devices easier to access, whether patients should be told every time AI is involved in their care and what happens if someone does not want an AI system to be used. The episode also tackles one of the biggest questions surrounding the growing use of healthcare AI: who is accountable when something goes wrong? Sollof then asks what stronger powers proposed for the MHRA could allow the regulator to do when an AI system falls short of expected standards, and whether the commission’s recommendations could address concerns about AI scribes and ambient voice technology after reports of errors appearing in patients’ medical records. Guest: Lawrence Tallon, chief executive, the MHRA
In the latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged, host Jordan Sollof is joined at NHS ConfedExpo 2026 by Dr Peter Thomas and Kate Warriner for a deep dive into the proposed NHS single patient record (SPR). The government’s NHS Modernisation Bill includes a requirement for all NHS providers to share patient data to create a SPR, which it says will help join up fragmented health information and improve access to patient records across care settings. Dr Thomas, director of digital development and consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Warriner, chief transformation and digital officer at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, discuss how a SPR could help both clinicians and patients. With concerns around the legislation forcing providers to share patient data, the pair explain how the NHS should balance easier access to information with patients’ expectations around consent and control, before stressing the importance of leadership and governance to the success of the SPR. Finally, the guests highlight the technical barriers that still need to be overcome before a SPR can be created and set out what needs to have happened for the SPR programme to be considered a success five years from now. Guests: Dr Peter Thomas, director of digital development and consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Kate Warriner, chief transformation and digital officer at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Host Jordan Sollof is joined in the latest episode of Digital Health Unplugged by Alcidion’s Paul Deffley and Tracy McClelland to discuss patient flow and why getting it right is essential for safety, efficiency and patient experience. Deffley, UK managing director and chief medical officer, and McClelland, chief clinical information officer at Alcidion, discuss the firm’s new handbook on improving patient flow across healthcare systems. They also highlight a real-world example of patient flow at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The discussion then turns to the the key findings and recommendations in the Public Policy Projects report on bed management and patient flow that Alcidion were involved in. Lastly, the pair give their best tips for hospital leaders wanting to improve flow starting tomorrow, before discussing the other developments planned for 2026 for Alcidion. Guests: Paul Deffley, UK managing director and chief medical officer at Alcidion Tracy McClelland, chief clinical information officer at Alcidion