Digital health solutions present a significant opportunity for healthcare providers, MedTech companies, and pharmaceutical firms around the world. However, the UK is in a unique position, given that the publicly-funded NHS is the primary provider.

The NHS is composed of many organisations, operating across a large number of regions, each with different population needs and priorities. The intricate and complex nature of the system poses a challenge for innovators hoping to drive adoption of MedTech solutions and provide equal access to digital health services across regions.

Despite being more interested in health and using medical apps, young people are least likely to need these solutions. 

Conversely, older individuals often struggle with breaking long-established habits and behaviours that hinder healthier lifestyles, yet they tend to be less inclined to adopt MedTech solutions that could assist them in this regard. 

Finally, usage of medical apps increases with higher income, but those earning more tend to already have greater access to healthcare services.

Organisations operating within the UK healthcare sector can’t ignore the large amount of people who wouldn’t use MedTech apps to improve their health even if they stand to benefit most from it.

So, it’s imperative to take a holistic approach and look at the bigger picture. Instead of working in isolation and focusing solely on digital touchpoints, organisations need to take a human-centric, end-to-end approach and think about ways to make their MedTech solution complement existing habits rather than forcibly interfere with them. 

Overall, it’s important to visualise the service from beginning to end, look at the underlying needs of users, and focus on data-led co-innovation with organisations that possess complementary capabilities. That’s the optimal way of figuring out how your service, and applications within it, can support a person’s entire health journey in a way that works for them and truly delivers ongoing value.

Although one third of respondents have admitted that using the NHS COVID-19 app has had a positive impact on their attitude towards mobile health apps, it’s clear that developing a solution outside the NHS ecosystem and releasing it directly to the public will prove difficult. 

In the UK, the population is wary of software offered by technology providers, MedTech companies, or pharmaceutical organisations. Plus, very few people are willing to pay anything for a digital health application.

Trust is crucial in the world of healthcare. People worry about their sensitive medical data and are hesitant to rely on MedTech solutions provided by companies that aren’t affiliated with the NHS. 

For the moment, there is no simple way around this. 

Digital innovators need to work with the NHS to determine which use cases deliver the most value to both – healthcare providers and the public.

Zühlke’s experts agree – NHS’s current organisational and technical structure isn’t ready to enable the digital healthcare revolution that the country is prepared for.

The various trusts, GP practices, and integrated care systems that are spread across the seven regions operate disjointly, work with siloed data, and are not equipped to facilitate true co-innovation.

MedTech solutions can help facilitate the shift to proactive and preventative healthcare, helping alleviate the pressure on public health services. To make this happen, the NHS needs a new long-term vision and structural changes.

In the medium-term, the UK needs a unified method for adopting digital services which provides turnkey procurement, deployment, and remuneration pathways for both the organisations that develop MedTech solutions and those eager to obtain them. 

In parallel, it would make sense to enhance the NHS app with add-on features that would transform it into a digital health hub rather than an appointment scheduling and medical records storage tool. With this in mind… 

What can you, as a business leader interested in driving impactful change, do right now to prepare for the future of the NHS and the country’s digital healthcare transformation?