“The ambition set out at the recent ‘Future Ready: Digital Health for Tomorrow’s NHS’ digital symposium at the Catalyst was clear”, writes our Head of Digital Systems Sonia Townend - “…a health system in which digital access is the default, not the exception.

“Central to that ambition is the continued scaling of the NHS App, positioning it as the front door to healthcare for millions of people.

The findings of the ‘UK Poverty 2026’ report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation are unsurprising yet shocking. In the wake of years of austerity, followed by the economic impact of a global pandemic and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, it reveals that poverty is rising dramatically in headline terms.

But the rate at which it is deepening should be of real concern to all of us working in health and care.

Change is a given in the healthcare landscape, and while that has always been the case, the shifts taking place currently need to go further than ever before.

Anticipation was therefore rife for months ahead of publication of the government's 10-year plan for healthcare in England. Now it’s out, the system has already begun to react.

The ‘three radical shifts’ the plan is calling for, namely hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention, are admirable aspirations, but I can’t help but feel there are probably more questions than answers at this stage of the game.