Less burden, more benefit

From at-home diagnostics to AI-powered health tracking tools, digitally powered prevention is changing healthcare for the better – but adoption remains patchy. Why? Recent research suggests that one in six healthcare leaders is concerned about the added burden on frontline staff. This belief holds back the benefits.

From simple sensors to AI-powered tools, digitally powered prevention saves time, costs, and capacity. At-home diagnostics are empowering people to self-manage their conditions at home, reducing system demand. Early detection tools are catching conditions early, enabling swift intervention. And pathway-integrated digital solutions are transforming care pathways from reactive to proactive. These new technologies give healthcare professionals the ability to focus on what matters: people, not processes.

Healthcare leaders see the potential of digitally powered prevention, but have reservations. While 83% believe digitally powered prevention will drive better health outcomes, they’re concerned about unintended consequences. Their biggest worry? Added pressure on frontline staff. This isn’t a technology problem – it’s a change management problem. Adopting digitally powered prevention means changing ways of working and using technology to transform care pathways rather than digitising existing pathways. The answer is to make it easy for frontline workers through simple selection, high-value use cases, and attitudinal shifts.

Take the guesswork out of selection

From screening to clinical note-taking, there are many proven examples of technology reducing the burden on staff and performing tasks as well as, or better than, a human. However, badly designed or poorly implemented technology increase the burden. The challenge is differentiating between the good and the bad – especially when there are so many options to choose from.

The sheer volume of unregulated suppliers of ambient voice technology (AVT) – which combines speech recognition and natural language processing to capture patient-clinician conversations in real-time for notes and letters – has been likened to a ‘wild west’. In response, NHS England has created a pre-approved AVT framework to take the guesswork out of selection. Importantly, a national, digital Health Store will help ICBs and practices choose from medically-approved diagnostic devices. These devices will be available on the NHS App, supporting smooth selection.

The action for healthcare leaders is to engage with these frameworks. But they can also look to promising pilots for specific solutions, identifying pilots with strong outcomes to justify expansion into other use cases. Crucial to this is an overarching evaluation framework that supports comparisons and scalability across the system.

Start with big-ticket items

The question isn’t whether technology is mature or accessible enough. It’s about which solutions will achieve the highest value in the shortest timeframes. The action for ICBs and practices is to pinpoint high-demand areas where digitally powered prevention will deliver the strongest results. This is likely to differ by location, underscoring the need for local flexibility when applying new solutions. Existing local health data from EPR and GP systems can be used to identify and launch two or three ‘quick win’ initiatives with measurable ROI.

Crucially, successes need to be shared and replicated. There’s a role for NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care to find and encourage promising pilots, combating pilot purgatory by supporting scalability. National bodies are the connective tissue, linking ICBs so that impactful pilots can be replicated elsewhere.

Each major technological shift takes confidence. Take technology-enabled care (TEC). What was once a novel concept is now a core part of social care, supporting people to live more independent, safer lives. Local authorities such as Kent County Council are demonstrating the advantages – one project alone delivered a financial benefit of more than £350,000 over a 12-month period. Councils like Gateshead bring the numbers to life by communicating the tangible, positive impact on individuals, sharing stories with social workers and other organisations involved in people’s care. The same approach needs to be taken with newer digitally powered prevention tools.

Workforce confidence

Leadership confidence leads to workforce confidence. If leaders worry about the added burden on teams, frontline staff will pick up on and internalise this sentiment. This doesn’t mean leaders should pretend things will be easy. It’s about shifting their mindsets from risk to reward – and seeing digitally powered prevention as capacity saving, not draining. A combination of financial metrics and human storytelling, communicated widely, will build confidence.

While there might be teething problems, digitally powered prevention is worth the bite. Healthcare leaders – the decision-makers and strategists who set the direction – can make it easier for frontline teams through defined procurement frameworks, identifying and supporting successful use cases, and sharing human stories that speak to hearts and minds. It will take time and energy, but the investment will be worth it.

This article was first published in Healthcare Today.