Highlights of 2024 | techUK Health and Social Care Programme Yearly Round up

Introduction

2024 has been an action-packed year for the UK health and social care landscape. As we head into 2025, we are proud to look back at all the milestones that the Programm, techUK members and key partners across the health, social care and life sciences sectors have achieved.

Policy Influence

The Health and Social Care Programme played an active and influential role in shaping health and social care policy, providing reassuring guidance to members, particularly in an election year! By engaging with policymakers, responding to key consultations, and providing thought leadership on critical issues, the Programme helped drive the agenda for digital transformation.

techUK published our flagship policy paper "Driving Digital Transformation: techUK's Recommendations for Health & Social Care", which outlines a clear vision for how digital technology can be harnessed to improve outcomes, efficiencies, and enhance user experience across the health and care ecosystem. The paper set out a series of practical covering areas such as:

investment in digital transformation and cyber resilience in the NHS and social care
commercial and procurement
artificial intelligence
increased digitisation in the social care sector
NHS App
digital skills and leadership
health data
integration of health, social care and other public services

We also developed our first ever digital healthcare evidence pack, which sets out the case for continued investment in digital transformation in health and social care.

Additionally, our Life Sciences Working Group (LSWG) published their first positioning paper focusing on how the technology industry can help to address the challenges faced by the Secure Data Environments. If you would like to find out more about the LSWG, please do reach out to [email protected] and [email protected].

Other channels of policy influence included the several consultation responses which techUK's Health and Social CAre Team responded to. Namely:

Change NHS: help build a health service fit for the future - This response drew on the members’ expertise to provide constructive recommendations for how digital, data and technologycan support the Government's 10 Year Health plan (expected in 2025) and ultimately the NHS's long-term sustainability and resilience.

MHRA's consultation on statutory fees - providing a technology industry perspective on the impact of financial changes for the UK SME healthcare market.

NHS England and NICE's consultation on a new MedTech pathway – providing insight on how to best streamline and accelerate the adoption of transformative medical technologies.

TechUK's response to the Lord Darzi Review – providing analysis to techUK members about a pivotal publication.

Market Engagement

The Health and Social Care Programme had an engaging 2024, delivering over 65 events that brought together key stakeholders from across the health and care ecosystem, allowing our members timely access to key information and the opportunity to shape governmental and NHS policy.

Particular highlights from the year's events included:

techUK's sold out Health and Social Care Dinners -The two dinners, in Leeds and London, featured keynote addresses from Richard Stubbs (Chair of the Health Innovation Network and Chief Executive of Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber) and Laura Squire (Chief Healthcare Quality and Access Officer, MHRA), and facilitated high-level networking and dialogues around the future of health and care.

techUK's 2024 Health and Care Summit - This flagship event convened senior leaders and decision-makers to explore thought-provoking discussions and actionable takeaways, with keynotes from Dr Jennifer Dixon (Chief Executive, The Health Foundation) and David Lawson (Director of Medical Technology at the Department of Health and Social Care).

Pre-Market Engagement events - With the NHS Genomic Medicine Service and NHS London Procurement Partnership for Workforce Technology Systems Framework .

Roundtables – on topics including the use of AI in social care and in diagnostics and treatment, data federation, technical consistency and maturity of data models such as OMOP.

Working Groups - Our Social Care Working Group engaged with a variety of social care stakeholders throughout the year, including the Department of Health and Social Care's Digitising Social Care Programme, Skills for Care, Social Care Future, LOTI (the London Office of Technology and Innovation), the National Care Forum, the Digital Care Hub, and Mark Nicholas (Clinical Director, Chief Social Worker & Head of Profession for Social Care Informatics at NHS England). If you would like to learn more about techUK's work in social care, please do contact [email protected].
Launch Events - The Programme supported the successful launch of several major reports and initiatives in 2024. These included the NHS England Product and Platforms Event and the NHS Marketplace Launch.

Market Briefings - Throughout the year, techUK hosted numerous industry briefings with leading stakeholders from across the UK including, NHS England, DHSC and the Scottish Government. These sessions featured insights from experts such as Dr Amrita Kumar (Frimley NHS Foundation Trust), Jonathan Cameron (Scottish Government), Roger Halliday (Research Data Scotland), Mark Nicholas (NHS England), Joe Harrison (Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust), Martin Carpenter (NHS Kent & Medway ICB), Dylan Roberts (BCUHB), and Mike Fell OBE (NHS England).

External and Partner Events - The Health and Social Care Programme team and members also ensured a strong presence at major industry events. These included: National Children and Adult Services Conference, King's Fund Digital Health Conference, HLTH Europe, HETT, and South West Innovation Expo.

[Web version] Second for upload Summit image.jpg

What’s next?

This year the Programme has taken a multi-faceted approach to promote collaboration across the members and with public sector stakeholders. We have published 20+ guest blogs on AI and Society, medical design and technology, and the Data Bill and partnered with our members on a number of events including with CrowdStrike, Airelogic, and Automated Analytics.

Additionally, we also have a number of exciting events already lined up for 2025! Don’t miss out, sign-up now:

Finally, with techUK's newly elected Health and Social Care Council the upcoming two years will see more collaboration and targeted influence across the health, social care and life sciences ecosystem.

Please do get in touch with [email protected] to find out more about the Programme and how you can get involved!

Health and Social Care Programme activities

techUK is helping its members navigate the complex space of digital health in the UK to ensure our NHS and social care sector is prepared for the challenges of the future. We help validate new ideas and build impactful strategies, ultimately ensuring that members are market-ready. Visit the programme page here.