Picture from Rewired Website
#Rewired 2025 has come and gone, and it was truly an amazing experience. This is my first time to attend the conference, and I was left in awe.
Rewired 2025 in Birmingham brought together thought leaders, clinicians, allied healthcare professionals and digital health experts to discuss the future of healthcare technology especially in the NHS.
Here are some of my key takeaways from the event:
Australia’s Digital Health Journey
Dr. Louise Scharper provided an insightful keynote on Australia’s digital transformation in healthcare. Their journey began in 2008 with a digital strategy and by 2010, Australia had its first electronic health record (EHR), emphasizing the importance of interoperability from the outset.
A significant success factor in Australia has been the hands-on involvement of digital health leaders who work closely with frontline teams. The government has also introduced legislation requiring providers to upload patient information, including blood test results, to My Health App, supporting a connected healthcare ecosystem. Australia is now focused on developing a Health Information Exchange (HIE) to leverage data for improved patient care.
Challenges and Opportunities in the NHS
A key discussion at Rewired 2025 centered around the NHS’s ongoing challenges—workforce shortages, infrastructure issues, and inefficient processes. Technology must be part of the solution, but only if it genuinely reduces workload and enhances efficiency. One major issue is the duplication of work in several places, often linked to fragmented procurement processes.
Strong leadership is essential for successful digital transformation. Leaders must foster shared understanding and collaborative working. Additionally, digital exclusion remains a concern—simply providing online services does not solve the problem, as exclusion can be circumstantial, affecting different patient groups in varied ways.
Vin Diwakar on NHS Productivity and Digital Adoption
Dr. Vin Diwakar highlighted a critical issue: NHS productivity has dropped and has yet to return to pre-COVID levels. Preventive care is key to improving productivity, but digital adoption within the NHS remains slow for obvious reasons. Infrastructure investment needs to go beyond end-user devices, with greater emphasis on cloud adoption across the NHS and streamlined data flows.
A staggering £460 million per year is spent on communication within the NHS and this is via paper. Organizing data flows through a Federated Data Platform could help address inefficiencies. He also pointed to the Lord Darzi Report as essential resources for future planning.
AI and Analytics Best Practices
Dr. Rahul Goyal from Elsevier stressed that AI must be integrated into workflows in ways that genuinely improve efficiency. AI assurance requires rigorous evaluation processes, and clinicians remain at the heart of decision-making. AI will not replace clinicians; instead, it will support them by analyzing data while they validate and apply insights.
Exhibitors Area
Visiting the various stands after the panel sessions was one of the highlights of the event for me. It made me realize that lots of people are building various solutions to improve healthcare delivery in the NHS. Some of them were also service based businesses that support digital transformation in various ways.
Some companies include:
Altera
Alcidion
Airwave Healthcare
Aire Innovate
Autogen AI
Apogee
BridgeHead
Cleo Systems
Heidi Health
Tandem Health
Epro
Epic
Connecting with Colleagues
Events like these are not complete without the networking component. I met some of the people with who I had connected on LinkedIn. It was great to meet them in person and have meaningful and deep conversations. Dr. Omasan Edun, Dr. Moyo Awoyukun, Dr. Falegan Ayobami, Tomilayo Akinsiku, Dr. Jude Omeke, Tumilara Olanipekun, Dr. Abdulmujeeb O. Muhammad-Olodo, Oluwatoba Samuel.
Our conversations shed light on some of the interesting projects that everyone was working on in the Digital Health Space.
Final Thoughts
Rewired 2025 underscored that digital health transformation is not just about technology—it’s about leadership, integration, and patient-centric design. The NHS must prioritize meaningful digital adoption, streamline workflows, and ensure ethical AI implementation to drive long-term impact.
I left inspired to do more in the Health Tech Space.
If you attended, I would love to hear/read about your experience.
Till the next episode.
Cheers!
Dr. Ron
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