Mahesh Naphade, head of healthcare and life sciences at Star, explains why connected systems alone will not transform the NHS.
The digital transformation of the NHS has long been a shared ambition for healthcare professionals, policymakers and the public. So when the UK government set out its 10 Year Health Plan last July, the direction was welcomed. The plan acknowledged that the NHS had fallen behind technologically and called for a shift from analogue to digital, including stronger interoperability, improvements to the NHS App and more connected records and services.
That ambition is important. Healthcare in the UK is a deeply fragmented system, and better data exchange is essential. But interoperability alone will not deliver meaningful transformation.
For years, healthcare organisations have invested in capturing more data across the care journey, from research and clinical trials to providers and payers. The problem is that this data does not exist in a single, shared context. The same information can be interpreted differently depending on the care provider across different points in a patient’s journey. That is why interoperability became such an important priority in the first place: to reduce confusion, improve consistency and enable safer data exchange across a complex ecosystem.
Yet even as systems become more connected, a deeper issue remains unresolved. Interoperability helps data move, but it does not determine how that data should be understood, prioritised or acted on in a specific situation. Nor does it solve another major healthcare challenge: the people interacting with digital systems are not standard users.
Connectivity does not mean one-size-fits-all
Most digital systems are designed for generalisation. In many industries, that is manageable; in healthcare, it is often not.
Most digital health platforms today remain static. They present the same workflows to every user, regardless of age, literacy, physical ability or clinical complexity. An 80-year-old recovering from surgery may navigate the same interface as a digitally confident 25-year-old. Even if chatbots are introduced, they often sit atop fixed pathways rather than reshaping the experience itself.
This is where many current digital health systems in most developed countries fall short. They may capture the right information, but they often rely on fixed interfaces and standardised workflows that assume everyone can engage in roughly the same way. In practice, that creates friction for patients and an extra burden for clinicians in high-pressure environments. More importantly, it weakens engagement – in healthcare, that is not a minor design issue. It can directly affect whether patients follow treatment plans, report symptoms accurately and stay active in their care.
Adaptive care can improve outcomes and reduce cost
For the NHS, this matters because adaptive care is not just about improving patient experience. It is about lowering the cost of care by helping patients engage earlier, follow treatment plans more consistently and avoid preventable deterioration that drives demand on what are already stretched services.
When patients can engage with systems tailored to their individual circumstances, they are more likely to understand what is being asked of them, contribute meaningful information and remain engaged over time. That can support earlier intervention, even prevention, and better adherence to care plans. In a public health system under severe operational and financial pressure, those gains matter.
This is also why the conversation needs to move beyond seeing digital transformation as a connectivity challenge alone. The next phase is not just about connecting systems; it is about making them more responsive to the context they operate in.
Due to advancements in generative and agentic AI, this vision can become a reality. The healthcare industry can now design systems which adapt in real time to the person using them; the underlying clinical purpose may stay the same, but the interface and interaction model can change. A system might simplify navigation for someone with low digital confidence, use voice or multimodal interaction for someone who struggles with typing, adjust language for a patient with lower health literacy, or provide deeper analysis to someone who wants to understand their condition in more detail.
New principles for an adaptive healthcare sector
For a public healthcare system like the NHS, digital transformation creates an unprecedented opportunity to redesign how care is provided across a highly diverse society such as the UK. It can give local GPs and community teams the infrastructure to better understand and support patients, helping move the system from treating illness after it appears to enabling earlier intervention and more preventive care.
This matters especially because the NHS is scaling its digital infrastructure. If that infrastructure is built only around interoperability and standardised workflows, there is a risk of creating a system that is more connected yet ultimately ineffective, and compounding rigidity.
None of this removes the need for governance. In healthcare, adaptability cannot come at the expense of accountability. Clinical oversight must remain with human professionals, with clear escalation pathways, defined decision rights and robust auditability built into the system.
The NHS has made real progress in connecting systems, and that work remains essential. But integration alone will not resolve the friction patients and clinicians still experience at the frontline. The next phase of digital transformation must go further: from connected systems to adaptive care. The real opportunity is not just to build a more digital, AI-ready NHS. It is to build one that responds better to the people within it.
