HETT (the Healthcare Excellence Through Technology event) this year was a great show. All the key movers and shakers in the NHS and tech came to talk about and show their commitment to digital health and it was good to see so many small businesses sharing their practical innovations. It felt vibrant and positive.

Three key takeaways

1) Digital is definitely on the agenda for supporting change in the NHS. It's not just discussion; there is drive, ambition and practical work taking place to use tech to enable new ways of working. Lessons are being captured and shared. There is a particular focus on enabling person-centred care.

2) Many NHS organisations are still operating in silos, and not reaching beyond their ICS or STP. This seems to be because of the financing model. If we are to see real change that improves patient's lives, we need to address this.

3) NHSX says it's committed to engaging with industry and suppliers, and that's great news for small and growing organisations like RIVIAM. We welcome this engagement and look forward to it. This article in Digital Health captures the key points of Mathew Gould's, the new CEO of NHSX, keynote presentation. I was particularly heartened by his promise that standards and interoperability are key things to get right.

The opportunity for digital services in healthcare

Most of the talks that I went to, or could see in topics shared over Twitter, highlighted that people are still frustrated about not being able to access the relevant information at the point of care.

Thankfully, there are pockets of good achievements with London and North East having access to a Health Information Exchange, but more needs to be done in the interoperability space.

Tara Donnelly, NHSX Chief Digital Officer, was able to tell us that, in the future, suppliers that do not conform to agreed interoperability standards, will not have contracts with the NHS. This is in the medium term as some suppliers may need more time to conform to this agenda.

Dilshan Arawwawala, CCIO Mid and South Essex Group, said that the common challenges were that there were cultural and digital differentiators in each patch that needed to be overcome.

Polly Bishop, NHSX Director of Digital Experience, said the NHS has made good progress in the availability of digital health services for people and that it's good to see that people have started to use them, but to get mass uptake these digital services need to be integrated into local pathways.

So where does RIVIAM fit?

There is no question about the need for a secure and interoperable digital platform that can join up the different parts of tech that are in any given locality.

Being able to access primary care systems - as RIVIAM can - and ensure that there is a seamless pathway of care for the patient is critical for the safety and quality of services.

As clinicians and caregivers are struggling with time management and with the burden of demand, RIVIAM is able to provide cutting-edge digital solutions to enable health professionals save time and resource in the delivery and co-ordination of care. Just take a look at RIVIAM's Digital Immunisations Consent Service - by digitising the capture of consent from parents and then routing the consents to clinicians for review based on the data provided saves days and days of clinician time reviewing every single consent.

On a different note and to touch on personal digital health, I believe that the ability to refer oneself into a care service must be a given and I love to see that RIVIAM's strategy is to ensure the citizen is not lost in this very important area.

One last topic that was raised at HETT is the ability for the NHS to have good 'partnerships' with their suppliers. The issue in the past has been related to a mismatch of expectations between suppliers and NHS organisations. RIVIAM is absolutely ideally placed to provide NHS customers with exactly what they want and need. RIVIAM is agile and has a great deal of knowledge and professionalism to work closely with NHS customers, discussing needs, shaping a solution and then delivering it.