Building Better Healthcare has taken a look at significant digital health initiatives, as well as contract wins and technology deployments, across the NHS and healthcare providers during the first month of 2026.
Across the NHS and wider healthcare market, there is a focus on technologies that increase resilience, automation, data-driven prevention and improved patient experience.
This spans secure infrastructure, AI-enabled diagnostics, digital neurodiversity pathways, patient-facing technologies, and more.
The following round-up is organised by the primary focus of each initiative, providing a clear view of where digital innovation is driving measurable impact.
AI diagnostics and clinical decision support
AI fracture detection: Emergency departments and minor injury units across Northern Ireland have rolled out Gleamer’s BoneView AI via Sectra Amplifier Services to support fracture detection, helping clinicians review more than 300,000 bone X-rays each year, with further imaging use cases under consideration.
Cancer blood test: PinPoint Data Science will showcase its AI-enabled multi-cancer blood test at WHX Dubai 2026. Developed with the NHS in England, the test uses machine learning and routine blood biomarkers to support earlier diagnosis following a five-year real-world evaluation.
AI clinical knowledge platform: Eolas Medical has raised $12m in Series A funding to scale its AI-enabled clinical knowledge platform across the NHS and internationally, supporting point-of-care access to organisation-specific guidance.
Secure infrastructure and automation
ICT infrastructure for healthcare: Serbus has unified Bates IT, ITM Communications and Serbus under a single brand to create a national provider of secure ICT infrastructure for healthcare and the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure, aligned with NCSC guidance.
Automated medical correspondence: Online pharmacy MedExpress has implemented Quadient Impress to automate secure medical correspondence, generating up to one million letters per month while reducing manual processing and compliance risk.
Population health and data analytics
Population health analytics programme: Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board has reported more than £1m in savings through its shared care record and population health analytics programme, supporting safer data sharing, productivity gains and prevention-led care.
Neurodiversity and mental health pathways
Neurodiversity assessment platform: Psyomics has launched beseen for neurodiversity, developed with Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust to support ADHD and autism assessments. The platform streamlines pre-assessment data collection and integrates with NHS systems, with early modelling suggesting a 30% reduction in administrative time.
Clinical systems and medicines safety
ePrescribing and Medicines Administration system: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has gone live with Altera Digital Health’s ePrescribing and Medicines Administration system across 56 wards, digitising prescribing workflows and strengthening patient safety.
Blood transfusion services: Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has deployed Clinisys WinPath for blood transfusion services in a first-of-type implementation in Wales, supporting testing, issuing and distribution across four hospitals.
Ambient voice, telephony and GP integration
Ambient voice technology: X-on Health’s Surgery Intellect has become the first ambient voice technology in the UK to document both face-to-face and telephone GP consultations directly into electronic patient records.
AVT Registry: X-on Health, working with TORTUS, has also been confirmed on the NHS England Ambient Voice Technology Registry, providing assurance on clinical safety and information governance.
Patient lookup system: In a separate development, X-on Health has announced a native integration between its Surgery Connect telephony platform and the Medicus EPR, enabling click-to-call and real-time patient lookup within the record.
Patient experience and engagement
Digital bedside platform: James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has introduced Airwave Healthcare’s MyCareTV digital bedside platform on its Concept Ward, providing patients with access to entertainment, communication and hospital services.
AI patient feedback tool: rater8 has launched AI Insights, a conversational AI tool that allows healthcare providers to analyse patient feedback using natural language queries, surfacing trends and risks without manual reporting.