Stephen Powis: ‘We must involve patients in digital transformation’

Sir Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director at NHS England, has called for patients and the public to be more involved in digital transformation.

Speaking in a spotlight session at Digital Health Rewired on 19 March 2025, Powis, said “it is absolutely crucial that patients and the public are involved” in innovation in the NHS.

“Often the best ideas come from them and of course we’re all patients and users of the healthcare system as well as we are professionals,” he told the Rewired audience.

Powis, who is also professor of renal medicine at University College London, recognised that “the NHS clearly has an issue with productivity” and highlighted the need to optimise digital and other technologies and empower patients in order to become more productive.

He also described the forthcoming 10 year health plan as an “opportunity to look forward and design the NHS” for the next decade.

The session shone a spotlight on Sir Powis’ 40-year career in the NHS, ahead of his retirement in July 2025.

Powis admitted that the NHS now is a “different world” to when he started his career, and that technology is now at the forefront after “the pandemic taught us how to innovate at pace”.

He concluded by emphasising his optimism for the future: “I’m really optimistic. The NHS is under huge pressure as we know, but I still think it is the right health system for the challenges that we face, and I do think there are lots of opportunities to make the changes we need to make.”

The session was chaired by Dr Jenny Cross, consultant nephrologist, group chief clinical information officer (CCIO) and interim medical director at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Also speaking on day two of the event, Alec Price-Forbes, CCIO at NHS England, stressed a national commitment to increased interoperability and integration, even as any restructures take place.

The practising consultant rheumatologist, who was appointed national CCIO in September 2024, said there was a “need to think differently about being data being usable, actionable and accessible information and not just read only, but read/write”.

“Fragmented silos are not going to allow us to interoperate as a health and care system to realise the potential we have,”  Price-Forbes added.