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31 Jul 2025

techUK Roundtable with Sonia Patel NHS CTO: Building the NHS Digital & Data Blueprint

NHS England CTO Sonia Patel led a comprehensive roundtable with industry representatives to discuss the development of the NHS Digital & Data Blueprint.

On 29 July, 2025, NHS England CTO Sonia Patel led a comprehensive roundtable with industry representatives to discuss the development of the NHS Digital & Data Blueprint. This session marked a significant milestone in the NHS's architectural transformation journey, representing a fundamental shift from organisational-centric to person-centered healthcare delivery approaches.

Please access the presentation slides here

Architectural Transformation Progress

The "Let's Talk Architecture" campaign, launched in March at Rewired, has successfully engaged over 1,000 stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem through various forums including leadership think tanks, regional networks, and international healthcare leader sessions. The feedback revealed strong consensus around the critical importance of standards as the foundation of future healthcare systems, with particular emphasis on adopting open international standards through an emerging "international standards first" policy.

Industry participants consistently highlighted the need for stronger enforcement mechanisms and clearer accountability structures for supplier adherence to standards. There was also significant demand for longer-term budgeting approaches and transparent disinvestment strategies to move away from the current year-by-year uncertainty that hampers both NHS planning and industry investment decisions.

Person-Centered Capability Revolution

Chief Enterprise Architect Lee Jenkins presented groundbreaking work on reimagining healthcare architecture from the patient's perspective rather than organizational silos. This innovative approach involves mapping business capabilities as patients actually experience them during healthcare journeys, moving beyond traditional programmatic approaches to create truly person-centered care delivery models.

The methodology starts with specific patient pathways, such as maternity care, to understand which business capabilities patients encounter and what services they interact with throughout their healthcare journey. This represents a fundamental architectural shift that aligns digital and data delivery with patient needs rather than internal organizational structures or commercial considerations.

Technology Blueprint Framework

Sonia Patel outlined the comprehensive five-pillar framework for the NHS Technology Blueprint. The architectural model and standards pillar establishes high-level principles while directing users to repositories of artifacts and frameworks that will provide consistency across the NHS ecosystem. The infrastructure and open standards component focuses on clarifying the technology stack foundation and international standards alignment, with particular attention to reducing the disproportionate spending on integration challenges that currently plague the system.

The delivery models pillar addresses the critical question of what should be delivered nationally versus locally, providing clarity on degrees of freedom for local innovation while ensuring essential consistency. The workforce and digital skills component recognizes that digital transformation requires not just professional workforce development but broader capability building across the entire NHS workforce. Finally, the data trust and insight-driven care pillar encompasses a comprehensive data strategy spanning from semantic vocabularies to practical usability for patients, staff, and NHS operational leaders.

Future Engagement and Implementation

The NHS England team committed to continuing iterative engagement with industry partners through the establishment of technical communities focused on detailed interoperability discussions. They acknowledged the need for realistic implementation timescales and transparent roadmaps that allow industry partners to plan their research and development investments effectively.

Robert Walker

Head of Health & Social Care, techUK

Robert joined techUK in October 2022, where he is now Programme Manager for Health and Social Care.

Robert previously worked at the Pension Protection Fund, within the policy and public affairs team. Prior to this, he worked at the Scottish Parliament, advising politicians and industry stakeholders on a wide range of issues, including rural crime and health policies.

Robert has a degree in Politics and International Relations (MA Hons) from the University of Aberdeen, with a particular focus on strategic studies and energy security. Outside of work he enjoys activities such as running, rugby, boxing and cooking!

Email:: [email protected]

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Viola Pastorino

Junior Programme Manager, Health and Care Team, techUK

Viola Pastorino is a policy, governance, and strategic communication specialist.

She joined techUK as the Junior Programme Manager in the Health and Care Team in April 2024.

She has obtained a Bachelor of Sciences in Governance, Economics, and Development from Leiden University, and a Master's programme in Strategic Communications at King's College London. Her academic background, leading up to a dissertation on AI policy influence and hands-on campaign development, is complemented by practical experience in international PR and grassroots project management.

She is skilled in qualitative and quantitative analysis and comfortable communicating findings to varying stakeholders. Above all, she is deeply passionate about the intersection of technology and government, especially how technology and global discourse shape one another, the processes that lead to belief polarisation and radicalisation of communities, and crafting strategic narratives that steer public discourse.

Outside of work she loves reading, live music light operation, and diving.

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Rachel Kennedy

Programme Manager Health and Social Care, techUK

Rachel joined techUK in December 2024, as a Programme Manager in the Health and Social Care team.

Prior to this, Rachel worked at a specialist health and social care public affairs agency, working with a range of organisations and trade bodies across the medical technology, pharmaceutical, digital health and social care sectors. As well as this, Rachel was part of the Secretariat for a number of health and care related All-Party Parliamentary Groups.

Rachel has a Masters in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Leeds, as well as a first-class honours in Politics BA from Newcastle University.

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Francesca Richiusa

Programme Team Assistant for Public Sector Markets, techUK

Fran serves as the Programme Team Assistant within techUK’s Public Sector Market Programmes, where she is responsible for delivering comprehensive team support, managing administrative functions, and fostering strong relationships with members.

Prior to joining techUK in May 2025, Fran built a meaningful career in the charitable and local government sectors. She worked extensively with both victims and perpetrators of crime, and notably led the coordination of Domestic Homicide Reviews across Surrey—an initiative aimed at identifying lessons and preventing future incidents of domestic abuse.

Outside of work, Fran is an avid traveller and a proud cat mum who enjoys unwinding with her feline companions.

Email:: [email protected]
Website:: www.techuk.org/
LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-richiusa/

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Lewis Stewart

Programme Manager ‑ Health and Social Care, techUK

Lewis brings a multidisciplinary background spanning health policy, stakeholder engagement, digital innovation, and elite sport. A former Commonwealth Games champion, he draws on the resilience, adaptability, and team-driven mindset gained through years of high-performance competition.

Before joining techUK, Lewis supported a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, where he led on constituency engagement and produced evidence-based research to inform debates, committee work, and policy advocacy. He has also helped shape youth wellbeing policy through the Youth Sport Trust, collaborating with government, education, and grassroots networks to drive impact.

Lewis has played key roles in health tech and mobility startups, helping to bring innovative solutions to market and improve user experience in complex systems. With a degree in Biochemistry and Pharmacology, he combines analytical thinking with a passion for evidence-led, people-centred change.

Email:: [email protected]

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techUK is helping its members navigate the complex space of digital health in the UK to ensure our NHS and social care sector is prepared for the challenges of the future. We help validate new ideas and build impactful strategies, ultimately ensuring that members are market-ready. Visit the programme page here.

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