How the NHS is approaching the future of XR and metaverse technologies
NHS England has been working to understand the capabilities of XR, and its current use in the NHS and healthcare internationally.
We found that XR was being used in a multitude of ways across the NHS and social care. The top four areas using XR were:
- Education and training for patients and staff
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Physiotherapy and rehabilitation
- Pain management
Other areas such as 3D visualisation of images or scans for pre-surgical planning, image guided surgeries and remote connections (for example for community nurses) were also mentioned.
The benefits associated with XR across these areas included:
- Saving staff time
- Improving staff experience
- Increasing accessibility
- Improving efficiency of services
- Increased positive patient outcomes
There are multiple use cases and case studies that evidence the benefits and potential of XR across health and care, including some within the NHS. In 2019 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust completed a study involving immersive VR treatment of children with autism related phobias, with results showing that nearly 45% of patients remained phobia free six months after treatment.
At East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust trainee doctors are using virtual reality training equipment to practise endoscopy skills in an immersive and realistic way. Teachers are able to accurately assess students’ progress with the aim of maximising patient safety in real operations.
However, our discussions with NHS providers, researchers and industry have also raised several barriers to adoption of XR. The most common barrier raised by NHS providers and XR suppliers was the lack of quantitative and qualitative evidence of the value that XR can bring.
Other common barriers identified by NHS providers, researchers and XR suppliers included:
- High initial costs for the technology
- Difficulties gaining stakeholder approval
- The absence of a clear route to market
- A lack of clarity on regulatory requirements, with unique challenges brought by XR particularly around clinical safety, privacy and data protection
- Usability and accessibility issues for specific user groups in healthcare
Without robust data demonstrating efficacy, safety and return on investment, this can make obtaining buy-in a more difficult and lengthy process. The need for more robust data for XR in healthcare is becoming increasingly important.
In order to address barriers identified in our research, 12 recommendations were made in a discovery report. Work has already begun to address some of the short term recommendations in collaboration with colleagues across the NHS, government, research and industry.
For example, we have:
- Awarded 14 NHS sites with £2 million from the Unified Tech Fund to pilot XR projects and generate evidence and learnings over the next 1-2 years
- Set up a community of practice to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing between the NHS, research institutes and industry
- Established a clear route to market for XR in education and training to be taken forward by Health Education England
- Developed living product directory to support NHS providers looking for specific XR solutions to meet their needs
- Shared a list of evidenced high-level benefits identified through our evidence based library
- Developed and shared a growing number of case studies, alongside their learnings and recommendations
To explore all these themes and more, earlier this year the NHS joined techUK in the metaverse. You can watch this below:
techUK... in the metaverse?
Yes, that's right! As part of techUK's Making the Metaverse campaign, techUK's Laura Foster, Head of tech and Innovation was delighted to join Neesa Mangalaparathy, Programme Delivery Lead for XR and ADC, NHS England, and Chris Yiu, Director of Public Policy for Northern Europe, Meta to test out the technology that has the potential to revolutionise the workforce.
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Rory Daniels
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
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- [email protected]
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- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
Running from January to May 2024, this sprint campaign explored how the UK can lead on the development, application and commercialisation of the technologies set to underpin the Gaming & Esports sector of the future.
These include AI, augmented / virtual / mixed / extended reality, haptics, cloud & edge computing, semiconductors, and advanced connectivity (5/6G).
Activity took the form of roundtables, panel discussions, networking sessions, Summits, and thought leadership pieces. A report featuring member case studies and policy recommendations was launched at The National Videogame Museum in November 2024.
Get in touch below to find out more about techUK's future plans in this space.
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Rory Daniels
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
Running from July to December 2024, this sprint campaign explored how the UK can lead on the development, application and commercialisation of web3 and immersive technologies.
These include blockchain, smart contracts, digital assets, augmented / virtual / mixed / extended reality, spatial computing, haptics and holograms.
Activity took the form of roundtables, workshops, panel discussions, networking sessions, tech demos, Summits, thought leadership pieces, policy recommendations, and a report (to be launched in 2025).
Get in touch below to find out more about techUK's future plans in this space.
Event round-ups
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Get in touch
Rory Daniels
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
Running from February to June 2025, this sprint campaign is exploring how the UK can lead on the development, application and commercialisation of robotic & automation technologies.
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Rory Daniels
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.
Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.
Today, Rory leads techUK's emerging technologies activity across everything from immersive, web3, AI and robotics to space, gaming & metaverse.
This involves co-running techUK's flagship Innovation campaign, managing four series (including the 'Meet the Innovators' interview series), and launching 4-6-month 'sprint campaigns' on transformative technologies and sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/
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